Russia grants $600 mln gas payment deferral to Turkey – Kommersant

Turkey has agreed with Russia to defer until 2024 payments on natural gas bills in the amount of $600 million. Reuters citing two sources. The agency notes that this is the first decision to postpone payments under the agreement between Turkey and Gazprom, which was announced last week.

“Officially, a payment of $600 million has been postponed to next year. This was greatly influenced by the rise in energy prices,” the agency’s interlocutor said. In total, within the framework of the agreement, “delays in Turkish energy payments to Russia could reach $4 billion,” a Reuters source claims.

Deferrals of other natural gas bill payments for Turkey could be announced in the coming months, according to Reuters. The Ministry of Energy of Russia and Turkey, the Russian Gazprom and Turkish Botas did not respond to agency requests for comment on this issue.

In October 2022, Bloomberg, citing sources, wrote that Turkey had asked Russia to defer gas payments until 2024. The Turkish side hoped to mitigate the sharp rise in gas prices. On May 3, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez announced that an agreement had been reached with Gazprom to defer part of gas payments. Media assumptions that the amount of the delay amounted to $ 20 billion, Mr. Donmez then called untrue. However, he did not give exact figures.

Milena Kostereva