Turkey expects to receive a share of the diesel Russia is making available to international markets under its agreement with US President Donald Trump, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Sunday. In a Reuters report published by gCaptain, the minister described the arrangement as important for Turkish energy security, but gave no details on the volumes Turkey would receive or the delivery terms.
Speaking to broadcaster Kanal 7, Bayraktar said Russia had restricted diesel exports in recent months before reaching the agreement with Trump. He said talks held by Turkey would enable it to obtain some of that fuel. Russia supplies part of Turkey’s energy requirements, alongside Iran, Azerbaijan and other countries, while Ankara is seeking to broaden its supply options through agreements with the US and other partners. The diesel deal has drawn strong criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, European officials and some Republican politicians.
Bayraktar also outlined plans to increase domestic gas production, saying a second floating production platform was due to enter service in the first quarter of 2028. According to the report, that platform would contribute 25 million cubic metres a day, taking Turkey’s daily Black Sea output to 45 million cubic metres. He said the resulting domestic supply would serve three out of every four Turkish homes.
Turkey dispatched its first floating gas production platform, Osman Gazi, to the Black Sea on Saturday. Bayraktar has said it is expected to lift daily output from the Sakarya field from 9.5 million cubic metres to 20 million cubic metres, equivalent to 7.3 billion cubic metres annually. He also put daily production at the field with the second platform at 550,000 barrels of oil equivalent.
The expansion comes against substantial import dependence. Turkey consumed 59 billion cubic metres of gas last year, compared with domestic production of 3.1 billion cubic metres, mostly from Sakarya, gCaptain reported. Separately, Bayraktar said planned hydrocarbon exploration off Pakistan had been postponed by around six months because of the Iran war’s effects on the region.