Turkey told Russia, Ukraine to keep energy infrastructure out of war, minister says

By Can Sezer

ISTANBUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Turkey is telling Russia, Ukraine, and all other parties to keep energy infrastructure out of their conflict and wants energy flows to continue uninterrupted, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said after a series of attacks off Turkey's Black Sea coast.

Ukraine, which is targeting Russia's oil exports as Moscow bombards its power grid, has taken responsibility for an attack by seaborne drones on two empty tankers heading towards a Russian port last week. But it denied any link to another incident on Tuesday in which a Russian-flagged tanker loaded with sunflower oil said it had come under drone attack.

"Hopefully, this horrible war will end. But as of today also, we say to all the parties - Russia and Ukraine - to keep the energy infrastructure out of this war," Bayraktar told journalists in embargoed comments on Wednesday.

"We need to keep the energy flows uninterrupted," he said, adding that routes like the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline should be kept safe.

HIGHER SHIPPING RISKS

Ankara, a NATO member that has kept warm relations with both Kyiv and Moscow during war, has said the attacks on Russia-linked vessels near Turkey are unacceptable and warned both sides, discussing the issue at a NATO meeting on Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin has responded by threatening to sever Ukraine's access to the sea and said Russia would intensify attacks on Kyiv's facilities and vessels.

The attacks have sent Black Sea shipping insurance rates higher and prompted one Turkish company to halt Russia-related operations due to security concerns after one of its vessels was damaged near Senegal by external impacts. No one claimed responsibility.

The CPC pipeline, which carries over 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports and handles more than 1% of global supply, briefly halted operations on Saturday after a mooring at its Black Sea terminal near Russia's Novorossiisk port was damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack.

Five industry sources later said Kazakhstan will divert more crude via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in December.

"According to the flow numbers in the BTC, there is no, let's say, reduction. BTC is as of today supplying 600,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil to the global markets," Bayraktar said.

TURKEY, UKRAINE DISCUSSED GAS SUPPLY

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Ankara for talks with President Tayyip Erdogan.

"The topic we had with Zelenskiy in the room was, of course, they asked us to help them for gas supply to Ukraine," Bayraktar said when asked about what was discussed during the meetings.

He said Ukraine had a similar arrangement with Greece, and added that Turkey's state energy company, BOTAS, and Ukraine's Naftogaz were working on how Ankara could help Kyiv.

Bayraktar did not elaborate further, but said Ukraine had a "huge capacity" in underground storage, meaning it could store energy brought in cheaply during the summertime for the winter.

(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Stephen Coates)