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Gas trade: Stand-alone win-win for US-Turkey relations

The only foreseeable and quantifiable area in the relationships between Turkey and the United States is gas trade.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - FEBRUARY 11: Fatih Donmez (2nd L), Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister attends the flare lighting ceremony of Bati Celtik-1 new natural gas well in Silivri district of Istanbul, Turkey on February 11, 2019. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

In the current chaotic climate of the Turkey-US relationship, there are very few areas that offer foreseeable and stable prospect for the bilateral ties and gas trade is one of them where expertise and analysis still matter, and where mutually beneficial solutions remain a distinct possibility.

In the last three years, a substantial change has occurred in the energy profiles of both countries. While the United States leads the world's gas production growth, Ankara has finally started moving away from a 30-year-long dependency on Russian gas. In 2019, raising its national liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity allowed Turkey to undertake the diversification of its supply sources, thereby putting it in a position to readjust its energy mix toward equilibrium, and away from an overreliance on Russia — one of the cruxes of the current relationship.

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