Turkey has told Russia, Ukraine and other actors involved in the war to avoid targeting energy infrastructure and to ensure uninterrupted energy flows after a series of maritime attacks near its Black Sea coast, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday.
Ukraine, which has intensified strikes on Russia’s oil exports as Moscow pounds its power grid, claimed responsibility for drone attacks last week on two empty tankers sailing toward a Russian port. It denied involvement in a separate incident on Tuesday in which a Russian-flagged tanker carrying sunflower oil reported a drone strike.
“Hopefully this horrible war will end. But as of today, we say to all the parties – Russia and Ukraine – to keep the energy infrastructure out of this war,” Bayraktar told journalists in remarks under embargo.
“We need to keep the energy flows uninterrupted,” he said, adding that key corridors such as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) route must remain secure.
Shipping risks climb
Ankara, a NATO member that has maintained ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, called the recent attacks on Russia-linked vessels near Turkey unacceptable and raised the issue at a NATO meeting on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to the sea and vowed to escalate strikes on Ukrainian assets and vessels.
Insurance costs for Black Sea shipping have jumped, while a Turkish company suspended Russia-related operations after one of its ships was damaged off Senegal by what it described as external impacts. No party has claimed responsibility.
The CPC pipeline — which carries more than 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports and supplies over 1% of the world’s crude — briefly halted operations on Saturday after a mooring at its Black Sea terminal near Novorossiisk was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack.
Five industry sources said Kazakhstan would increase crude shipments via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in December.
“According to the flow numbers in the BTC, there is no reduction. BTC is today supplying 600,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil to global markets,” Bayraktar said.
Turkey weighing gas support for Ukraine
Bayraktar said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked for Turkish help in securing gas supplies during talks with President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara last month.
“They asked us to help them for gas supply to Ukraine,” Bayraktar said, adding that Turkey’s state energy firm BOTAS and Ukraine’s Naftogaz were exploring options. He noted that Ukraine had a similar arrangement with Greece.
Ukraine has “huge capacity” in underground gas storage, allowing it to stockpile fuel imported cheaply in summer for winter demand, he said.