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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A detailed review of legislative norms and e-government services across various business environment domains has been prepared and published by the working group of the Business Environment and International Ratings Commission, focusing on electricity network connections.
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The draft law "On Amendments to the Tax Code," adopted in its third reading, provides for tax exemptions on the sale of locally manufactured buses in Azerbaijan and the supply of spare parts for these vehicles. This was reported by the Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy, explaining that the government's initiative aims to support business development in the country by reducing the tax burden. The exemption will come into effect on January 1, 2025, and will remain valid for eight years.
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On 21 December, Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit met with Azerbaijani Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev at the Russian Ministry of Transport.
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Hundreds of trucks are stuck in the Kazakh port of Kuryk, facing delays for several days while waiting for ferry transport to Azerbaijan, the Azakhstan portal reports lada.kz. The backlog is due to a combination of reduced ferry availability, adverse weather conditions, and an influx of cargo rerouted because of expanded sanctions on Russia.
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