Turkey to start providing Syria with natural gas this week

Qatar would be involved in financing, energy minister says

Syrian Minister of Energy Mohammed Al Bashir attends a press conference with the Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar in Damascus, Syria. May 22, 2025. Reuters.

Turkey will start providing Syria with natural gas from August 2, with Azerbaijan also involved in exports running through Kilis province, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday.

Ankara, which supported rebel forces in neighbouring Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended in December with the ousting of former president Bashar Al Assad, has now become one of the current Syrian government's main foreign allies while positioning itself as a major player in Syria's reconstruction.

Mr Bayraktar told the state-owned Anadolu news agency of the power project's start date on Wednesday. During a visit to Damascus in May, he signed an agreement to boost energy collaboration with his Syrian counterpart Mohammad Al Bashir.

Turkey agreed to provide Syria with two billion cubic metres of natural gas annually, in addition to 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Supplies were to boost energy in Syria, to last for up to 12 hours a day, and the two nations also agreed explore natural resources to help reconstruction efforts, Mr Bayraktar said at the time. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan will become a partner in the project as well, Mr Bayraktar has said.

On Wednesday, he said the natural gas provision would help Syria address its electricity needs as well, and be used to fuel the country's existing power plants.

"We made a swap agreement with Azerbaijan, and the gas that will come from Azerbaijan will be exported to Aleppo, Syria, via Kilis," he said. Qatar will finance part of the project and a ceremony will mark the start of the gas flow on Saturday.

"With the six million cubic metres of gas that we are planning to send there, we will be able to realise 1,200MW of electricity production," he added.

Mr Bayraktar said Ankara will supplement that with 500MW of its own to help address Syria's energy issues.

Syria is suffering from severe power shortages, with state-supplied electricity available for only for a few hours a day in most areas. Damascus used to receive the bulk of its oil for power generation from Iran before Hayat Tahrir Al Sham took power in December.