Damascus, Ankara agree natural gas deal for Syria
Syrian Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir said Friday Damascus and Ankara had reached a deal for Turkey to supply natural gas to Syria via a pipeline in the north.
"I agreed with my Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar on supplying Syria with six million cubic metres of natural gas a day through the Kilis-Aleppo pipeline," Bashir said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.
Kilis is near Turkey's border with Syria, which is north of the city of Aleppo.
The deal will "contribute to increasing the hours of electricity provision and improve the energy situation in Syria", Bashir added.
Syria's new authorities, who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, are seeking to rebuild the country's infrastructure and economy after almost 14 years of civil war.
The conflict badly damaged Syria's power infrastructure, leading to cuts that can last for more than 20 hours a day.
Bayraktar told the private CNN-Turk broadcaster late Thursday that "we will provide natural gas to Syria from Kilis within the next three months".
"This gas will be used in electricity generation at the natural gas power plant in Aleppo," he said, confirming an expected daily flow of six million cubic metres.
In March, Qatar said it had begun funding gas supplies to Syria from Jordan, in a move aimed at addressing electricity production shortages and improving infrastructure.
That announcement said the initiative was set to generate up to 400 megawatts of electricity daily in the first phase, with production capacity to gradually increase at the Deir Ali station southeast of Damascus.
Both Turkey and Qatar have close ties with Syria's new government, and were the first two countries to reopen their embassies in Damascus after Assad's ouster.
Both have also urged the lifting of sanctions on Syria.
In January, Syria's electricity chief said two power ships were being sent from Turkey and Qatar to increase supply after the United States eased sanctions, allowing fuel and electricity donations to Syria for six months.
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