Turkey targets energy collaboration with Syria

Turkey

ANKARA, December 27, 2024 – Turkey aims to collaborate with the new government of Syria on energy, a Turkish government official was quoted as saying on Friday.

The collaboration would include strengthening the country’s power infrastructure, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar was quoted as saying in local media outlet Hurriyet.

It could also include co-operation in the realm of oil and gas, the minister said.

Turkey was among the first countries to reopen its embassy in Damascus, according to a report from Reuters, which noted that the Turkish foreign minister and intelligence chief have both met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al Sharaa.

Minister Bayraktar said he would travel to Syria on Saturday to discuss energy co-operation.

“We must very rapidly provide electricity to parts of Syria that do not have electricity, with imports in the initial phase. In the medium-term, we also plan to increase the set electricity power, the production capacity there,” Hurriyet quoted him as saying.

Prior to the recent conflict, Syria was a leader in oil and gas production in the Eastern Mediterranean, with 400,000 bopd of output. This figure dropped into the tens of thousands as the war progressed. The conflict also caused extensive damage to energy infrastructure.

Photo courtesy of Alparslan Bayraktar on Facebook.