Armenian expert: Situation in Middle East opportunity for Turkiye to  be key gas supplier to Europe

ArmInfo. The escalation in the Middle East creates a good opportunity for Turkey to become a key gas  supplier to Europe. This opinion was expressed on his Facebook page by Vahe Davtyan, a specialist in cross-border transport and energy projects, political scientist, and PhD.

The expert noted that, amid the escalating conflict, Moscow informed  Ankara of the dangers threatening the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream  gas pipelines. As the expert explained, these pipelines, in the  current conflict situation, could play a key role in ensuring  Europe's energy security.

"In Qatar, the halt in liquefied natural gas production and the  closure of the Strait of Hormuz are creating a serious gas shortage  on the European market, which is also reflected in the rise in gas  futures, which have increased by more than 30%. All this creates a  good opportunity for Turkey to act as a key supplier to Europe, which  can be achieved through the aforementioned Turkish Stream and Blue  Stream gas pipelines, with a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters  and 16 billion cubic meters, respectively," the political scientist  explained.

He also noted that both pipelines are Russian projects, delivering  gas from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea. Davtyan noted that such  a gas scenario, naturally, runs counter to Washington's interests,  which is why the latter is attempting to quickly capture the European  market in the face of the cutoff of supplies from Qatar.

As ArmInfo previously reported, spot gas prices in Europe jumped more  than 22% on March 2, reaching EUR 39 per MWh, approaching June highs.  The price of gas for next-day delivery at the benchmark European TTF  hub reached $472 per thousand cubic meters on Monday, compared to  $387 on Friday.  Meanwhile, prices had been trending downward in  February from a local high of $500 in anticipation of spring weather.

As a reminder, on the morning of February 28, the US and Israel  attacked Iran. In retaliation, Iran launched strikes against US bases  in the Middle East. As a result of the US-Israeli aggression, Iranian  Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking Iranian military  officials were killed. The US has so far confirmed the deaths of six  of its soldiers. An Israeli strike on a girls' school in a province  in southern Iran killed 170 students and their teachers, according to  the latest figures, and wounded dozens more.