In 2025, Turkish company Botas and Russia's Gazprom plan to officially launch the "Istanbul Gas Index," a gas trading platform developed as part of the joint Russian-Turkish gas hub initiative, according to Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar. He noted that a memorandum of understanding has been shared with all interested parties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Gazprom to participate in the platform’s operations. The exchange will be based at the Istanbul Financial Center, where the "Istanbul Gas Index" will establish gas price benchmarks. Turkey has repeatedly expressed ambitions to transform Istanbul’s financial center into a hub for gas pricing.
Russia is prepared to conduct gas sales in line with the Istanbul Gas Index. The concept of creating an international gas hub in Turkey was first proposed in fall 2022 during a meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The initiative emerged following sabotage on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which had previously been key routes for Russian gas to Europe.
Currently, Russia’s gas transit to Europe operates solely through Ukraine, but Gazprom’s five-year agreement to transit gas through Ukraine’s system is set to expire on December 31, 2024. Russia sees an opportunity to deliver significant gas volumes through Turkey (via the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines). By passing through this trading platform, involving multiple companies, the gas becomes "unbranded" and could be supplied to Europe as "Turkish Blend," as Bayraktar mentioned in September.
Economics
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Azerbaijan and Israel have agreed to establish a working group on the development of cooperation in the field of transport, Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev said on Friday on the social network "X".
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Discussions on "green energy" were held on November 22 in Istanbul, during the energy forum, involving Turkey's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, Georgia's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili, Bulgaria's Minister of Energy Rumen Radev, and Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov.
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A meeting between Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov, Turkey's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, and Bulgaria's Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov took place on November 22 in Istanbul, within the framework of the international energy forum, according to Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy.
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Consumer prices in Azerbaijan surged significantly in October 2024, underscoring the impact of both local and global inflationary pressures. According to the State Statistics Committee, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October 2024 reached 103.4% compared to the same month last year. Key categories contributing to the rise include food, beverages, and tobacco, which increased by 2.6%, non-food items by 2.1%, and paid services by a substantial 5.8%.
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