Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed rumors claiming that the country plans to send natural gas to Europe through Syria and Turkey, labeling the reports as mere speculation.
In a statement on January 4, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, had mentioned that if a secure transportation system were established in Syria and the country and region remained stable, Qatar’s gas could potentially flow to Europe through Turkey.
However, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Majid bin Mohammed al-Ansari, refuted these claims. “We’ve all seen the speculation in the media about this natural gas pipeline. It’s nothing more than media speculation,” al-Ansari remarked.
When asked about the possibility of building a pipeline through Syria and Turkey to supply natural gas to Europe, he responded: “We are determined to support the Syrian people, as we did at Damascus International Airport, with humanitarian and technical assistance, and also to discuss providing technical support for infrastructure reconstruction. Economically, however, we cannot comment on gas supply matters.”
Al-Ansari further emphasized that Qatar is currently focused on maintaining stability in Syria and meeting the needs of the Syrian people.
The idea of building a Qatar-Turkey pipeline has been under discussion since 2009, though it has been reported that former Syrian officials opposed the project’s realization.
Qatar, which holds the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves and ranks as the sixth-largest natural gas producer, became the third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in November 2024, according to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, following the United States and Australia.
Source: nefes.com.tr
Translation: Cem Cetinguc