"In terms of demand for Russian gas, Turkey was second after Germany in 2015," Miller told reporters.
Russian gas is currently being transferred to Turkey through the Blue Stream trans-Black Sea gas pipeline. In 2014, Turkey was also second largest Russian gas importer, having received 27.3 billion cubic meters of gas, according to Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Russian gas currently accounts for about 50 percent of Turkey's total gas imports.
Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated following the downing of a Russian Su-24 aircraft by a Turkish F-16 fighter in Syria on November 24. In particular, Moscow suspended a number of strategic bilateral projects, including negotiations on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, which had been projected to carry an annual volume of 63 billion cubic meters of gas.
The pipeline was expected to run below the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and continue to a hub on the Turkish-Greek border, from where gas could be transferred to Southern Europe.
Following the incident with the Russian Su-24 warplane, Ankara announced plans to decrease its dependence on Russian gas and held talks with Azerbaijan and Qatar on energy cooperation.
