ANKARA, Turkey, Sept. 24 (UPI) — Talks between Azerbaijan and Turkey over price mechanisms and gas supplies through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline have stalled, officials said Wednesday.
A contract for Turkey to receive natural gas from western routes runs out in three years, leaving Ankara scrambling to secure additional supplies. The price offered from Ankara for supplies from the BTE pipeline, also known as the South Caucasus pipeline, was not acceptable to Baku, the Turkish Daily News said Wednesday.
Turkey argues the price mechanism is justified because of the relatively direct route of the pipeline.
Ankara had looked at the 430-mile pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey through Georgia as a means to shore up its natural gas reserves. The pipeline has pumped gas to Turkey since 2007.
Baku would have to hike its domestic gas price and rely on Russian gas if it were to funnel additional gas reserves through the pipeline.
Officials with BP, a major shareholder in the BTE consortium, said the Turkish offer was too low and favored pressure from Baku to ramp up the price.