"Turkey, Iran's biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Iran for its imports with Turkish lira, because sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros. Iranians then use those lira, held in Halkbank accounts, to buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran. Halkbank had also been processing a portion of India's payments for Iranian oil. A provision of U.S. sanctions, made law last summer and implemented from February 6, effectively tightens control on sales of precious metals to Iran and prevents Halkbank from processing oil payments by other countries back to Tehran, bankers said...Trade in Turkish gold bars to Iran via Dubai was already drying up as banks and dealers declined to buy the bullion to avoid sanctions risks associated with the trade...Turkey like China, India and Japan is heavily dependent on imported energy and, while it has cut back on oil from Iran, has made clear it cannot simply stop buying Iranian oil and gas. "With so many restrictions, Iran's cash may accumulate in Halkbank accounts... they may have difficulty getting some of that money out of Turkey," another senior Turkish banker said." "
per here (see chart reproduced below) it appears that Turkey is getting 20% of their natural gas imports from Iran. That is their second largest import source behind Russia. I did not realize that Turkey was so dependent on Iranian gas...hmmm I wonder if Israel could export natural gas from the new Leviathan field to Turkey. That would be a win win for Israel as they get a new export market and simultaneously stick it to Iran...A quick Google of "Israel Leviathan exports Turkey" and it seems I am not the only one thinking this....
TodaysZaman: Turkey's Zorlu Group pushing Israel to approve gas exports
"The Zorlu Group, one of Turkey's biggest holdings, is lobbying Israeli authorities to approve a possible gas sale to Turkey despite icy relations between the two nations. Israel's Haaretz claimed on Thursday that the Zorlu Group is planning to build an undersea pipeline from Israeli-owned offshore gas rigs to Turkey's south coast, which will be shortest and cheapest gas pipeline project Turkey has ever been part of. The daily reported that the Turkish conglomerate has been working in recent months to convince the Israeli government and Israel's Leviathan gas field partners to approve energy exports to Turkey...Zorlu's plan is to lay an undersea pipeline from the Leviathan field 130 kilometers off Haifa to Turkey's south coast. The pipeline would deliver between 8 billion and 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually. The Zorlu Group has assets worth $1 billion in Israel...The Leviathan gas drill, 130 km (80 miles) off the port of Haifa, is the world's biggest deepwater gas find in the past decade. Israel could earn at least $150 billion in gas revenues."
| By country of origin (in mcm) | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | %Total 2010 |
| Azerbaijan | .. | 1258 | 4580 | 4960 | 4521 | 11.89% |
| Iran | 5594 | 6054 | 4113 | 5252 | 7766 | 20.42% |
| Russia | 19316 | 22752 | 22962 | 19473 | 17575 | 46.21% |
| Algeria | 4130 | 4205 | 4148 | 4487 | 3907 | 10.27% |
| Egypt | 270 | 0.71% | ||||
| Nigeria | 1100 | 1396 | 1017 | 903 | 1189 | 3.13% |
| Qatar | 1845 | 4.85% | ||||
| Trinidad & Tobago | 240 | 0.63% | ||||
| Other | 76 | 1425 | 333 | 781 | 724 | 1.90% |
| Total | 30219 | 35832 | 37153 | 35856 | 38037 | 100% |
| %Total Consumption | 96.91% | 97.90% | 101.39% | 102.11% | 99.78% | |
| c = confidential; - = nill; ..= not available | ||||||
| Source: Natural gas information 2011 & OECD/IEA, 2011 | ||||||
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