Turkey's Middle East oil dependence at 10%, no supply disruption, says minister

ISTANBUL, March 25 (Reuters) - Turkey's dependence on Middle East oil is at a "manageable" 10% of total supplies and there are no supply problems despite the war involving Iran, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday.

The war has caused a crisis in global energy security, he said on a state-run Anadolu Agency programme, adding that Turkey, a big energy importer which neighbours Iran, had taken protective diversification steps.

Bayraktar said every $1 increase in oil prices adds about $400 million to Turkey's energy bill.

He said there had been no natural gas supply cuts from Iran so far, but that this remained possible.

"There were reports that Iranian natural gas was cut a short while ago," he said. "To this point, this has not happened. But this does not mean it won't happen later, so we are carrying out significant diversification against risks that may emerge here."

As part of its diversification steps, he said Turkey planned to sign a hydrocarbon deal with TotalEnergies TTEF.PA soon, similar to ones signed with other oil majors.

As part of Ankara's strategy to expand oil and gas production at home and abroad, state energy firm Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) signed preliminary deals with Exxon and Chevron earlier this year.

The company also signed a deal with Shell to explore in Bulgaria's maritime zone and buy a 33% stake in the Khan Tervel license.

Separately, Bayraktar said connecting the flow of oil from Syria to the Iraq-Turkey crude oil pipeline was on the agenda, and this had been conveyed to Syrian counterparts.