Turkey to begin natural gas exports to Syria on Aug. 2: What to know

ANKARA — Turkey will begin supplying natural gas to Syria on Saturday, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced Wednesday.

“We will begin exporting the gas coming from Azerbaijan to Syria, to Aleppo, via [Turkey’s border city of] Kilis, ”Bayraktar Told Turkey's State-Run Anadolu Agency.

What happened: Bayraktar said Ankara and Baku agreed to swap and redirect Azerbaijani gas through Turkey to Syria. “Qatar will be involved in terms of financing,” he added.

Syria will initially receive 6 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas per day, according to Bayraktar. He added that the flow would help generate up to 1,200 megawatts of electricity.

Syria’s Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, meanwhile, put initial volumes at 3.4 million cubic meters and said the gas would help produce 900 megawatts of power.

Starting Aug. 2, Syria will begin receiving 3.4 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan to Aleppo governorate via Turkey, Bashir said in a statement carried by the Syrian state-run news agency SANA.

The supply aims to alleviate Syria’s chronic electricity problem, where households currently receive only three to four hours of electricity a day.

Background: The reconstruction of the Kilis–Aleppo gas pipeline was completed in May. The announcement over the planned flow came after Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during his first visit to Baku earlier this month. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation during the visit.

During a May trip to Damascus, Bayraktar outlined plans for Turkey to supply Syria with up to 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, along with 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

Speaking Wednesday, Bayraktar said a separate transmission line designed to export up to 500 megawatts of electricity from Turkey to Syria is currently awaiting repairs on the Syrian side, with funding provided by the World Bank. He said that once the line becomes operational, total electricity supply to Syria could reach nearly 900 megawatts.

“The electricity needs of around 1.6 million households there will be met,” Bayraktar said, adding that this, in turn, would also accelerate the return of Syrians currently living in Turkey.

Turkey hosts nearly 3 million registered Syrians; the number of unregistered Syrians in the country remains unknown.

Know more: The supply deal will be marked with a trilateral ceremony in Kilis on Saturday, attended by energy ministers from Turkey, Syria and Qatar.

Bayraktar and Bashir will jointly attend the ceremony in Kilis to mark the start of gas flow.