Natural gas from Israel's Tamar field began flowing to customers in 2013. Photo: Screenshot / Youtube.

Turkey’s Zorlu Group, which holds an indirect stake in an Israeli power plant, has begun talks with Israeli companies to finance a pipeline that could export gas from the Jewish state’s Leviathan and Tamar offshore fields to Turkey, Reuters and Turkey’s Hurriyet daily reported on Friday, citing industry and diplomatic sources.

The report also cited Ömer Yüngül, chief executive of Zorlu Holding, the owner of Zorlu Enerji, as saying, “Turkey is a very suitable route for Israeli gas. I can even say it is the most suitable,” although he would not confirm the talks.

Zorlu Energy holds a 25 percent stake in Dorad Energy, which is building an 875 megawatt gas-fired power plant in Ashkelon on the Israeli coast. Yüngül said the first unit of the plant would come on line by February 2014.

This week, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz told an energy conference in Istanbul that Turkey was very interested in playing a large role in exporting Israel’s gas deposits.