Turkey not to decrease oil, gas imports

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday that his country does not intend to decrease volume of oil and gas supplies imported from Iran, adding at the same time that Turkey is to increase its imports of Iraqi crude oil. In a statement to reporters, Yildiz indicated, on the sidelines of an international conference on oil and gas, held here, that Iran is the second largest gas supplier to Turkey and the first in terms of oil supplies, affirming that his country is not going to reduce the volume of energy imports from Tehran. Also, he asserted that on the contrary; Turkey intends to increase the supply of oil, particularly from Iraq, pointing out cooperation projects between the state-owned company Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) and Iraqi oil sector. In 1996, Iran and Turkey signed an agreement to supply 30 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey on a daily basis through pipelines that link Iranian gas fields with Turkish lands.