Category: Business

Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute

Turkey has canceled a deal to supply overpopulated Istanbul with Russian gas over a pricing dispute. The cancellation means Turkey loses supply for some 15% of the gas it needs, causing a price hike for consumers. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this article.

The state-owned Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation Botaş announced on Saturday (1 October) that it had canceled a natural gas supply deal with Russia’s Gazprom after it failed to obtain discounts.

The gas was meant to be delivered via the West line, a pipeline which passes through Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

“Price increases should be bearable. We will revise our contracts that are nearing their end. Western Line is one of them. If our demands of price reduction are not met, we will terminate it,” Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said.

Gas prices had increased by around 39% during the past 29 months, Yildiz indicated.

The dispute ended a contract for the yearly distribution of 6 billion cubic meters of gas, Gazprom’s press service confirmed Sunday, without elaborating. The West line, which had been supplying gas since 1986, has already caused problems to Turkey because of the recurrent disputes between Russia and Ukraine.

But Turkey will continue to import gas via the Blue Stream pipeline, which carries gas across the Black Sea from the Beregovaya compressing station in Russia to the Durusu terminal, near the Turkish city of Samsun, the daily Hürriyet reported. Turkey buys nearly 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas via Blue Stream, under a contract which was set to expire 23 years after the pipeline’s construction.

Turkey’s annual natural gas consumption is nearly 37 bcm. Last year, Turkey imported 18 bcm from Russia, about 60% of its total domestic gas consumption.

However, Botaş announced on Saturday it would raise residential natural-gas prices by 12.3% to 14.3%, citing increases on international markets and the declining value of the Turkish Lira. The new pricing started taking effect the same day. Fees for industrial clients will go up 13.7% to 14.3%, the company also said.

Relations to develop nevertheless

The cancellation doesn’t mean natural gas purchases from Russia will stop, Taner Yıldız said.

The minister also made it clear that when Russia delivers the documents Ankara requested, the permission to build the South Stream pipeline trough Turkish waters would be granted.

“There are no problems in this respect,” he pointed out, adding that Turkey’s “strategic relationship” with Russia “cannot be affected by a few contracts.”

Russia has overtaken Germany as Turkey’s primary trade partner as bilateral trade is expected to surpass $40 billion (€30 billion) by the end of 2011, the daily Zaman reported. As well as a total of more than two-thirds of its natural gas, 20% of Turkey’s imported oil is provided by Russia. Nearly three million Russian tourists visit Turkey every year, and the two countries reciprocally removed visa requirements in mid-April.

Moreover, Turkey has also removed Russia from its list of external threats. Turkish

contractors have already completed some 1,200 projects around Russia, representing a total value of $32 billion (€24 billion).

Russia and Turkey also clinched a deal for the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the coastal town of Akkuyu, in the southern province of Mersin. A consortium led by state-controlled Russian builder AtomStroyExport will construct the plant in Akkuyu, paying all of the construction costs for the plant, which is estimated to be some $20 billion (€15 billion).

Meanwhile, natural gas expert Alexei Gromov from Russia’s Institute for the problems of Natural Monopolies commented that Turkey was bluffing and gas prices had to be adjusted in relation to the increase in oil prices in May and June, Cihan News Agency reported.

Positions:

In a written statement, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said that private Turkish companies had in the meantime shown interest in buying Russian gas directly.

“We note that gas delivered through the Western line is required by Turkish commercial and industrial consumers. We are ready to deliver these volumes to our existing and new clients- private companies, for further delivery to end users on the Turkish market”, Medvedev said.

via Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute | EurActiv.

October 4, 2011
The Lightbulb Conspiracy

There once was a time when consumer goods were built to last. Then, in the 1920’s, a group of businessmen realized that the longer their product lasted, the less money they made, thus Planned Obsolescence was born, and manufacturers have been engineering products to fail ever since.

The current throwaway climate – where the latest technology is outdated after a year and electronics are cheaper to replace than to repair – is the basis for economic growth. But infinite consumption is unsustainable with finite resources. With the economy crumbling and consumers becoming increasingly resistant to the practice, has planned obsolescence reached the end of its own life?

Combining investigative research and rare archive footage with analysis by those working on ways to save both the economy and the environment, this documentary charts the creation of ‘engineering to fail’, its rise to prominence and its recent fall from grace.

thinktankdocumentaries.org/the-lightbulb-conspiracy/

October 3, 2011
Trade Between U.S. and Turkish Firms Set to Grow Rapidly

Phil Bolton

The U.S. Small Business Administration, its Turkish counterpart and the U.S. Commerce Department have agreed to assist small and medium-sized businesses with international trade opportunities.

The agreement was signed Sept. 29 at the National Minority Enterprise Development Week conference held in Washington. Turkey participated through its Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB).

“We are entering into this important partnership between the U.S. and Turkey to encourage the exchange of information including best practices, networking and international trade opportunities for small businesses,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills in a news release.

Under the agreement, the Commerce Department’s International Trade Agency is to coordinate digital video conferences with the SBA and KOSGEB to provide information, share best practices and promote international trade among small businesses.

The SBA is to organize briefings for KOSGEB and representatives of Turkey about SBA’s loan guarantee and technical assistance programs, participate in an exchange of experts for training and knowledge-sharing purposes, explore meeting opportunities for U.S. and Turkish businesses and provide KOSGEB with information on SBA’s approaches to promoting opportunities for small businesses.

Meanwhile, KOSGEB is to share knowledge and experience about policies, measures and applications, exchange data and publications about small and medium-sized businesses, host an exchange of experts for knowledge-sharing purposes, organize networking events, mutual business trips to enhance the cooperation between both countries’ small and medium-sized businesses, and encourage and support establishment of ‘Business Matching Centers’ to improve the trade volume of both countries.

All of the participants are to share relevant information and best practices on innovation, entrepreneurship and export promotion, and international trade relating to small and medium-sized businesses.

Visit www.sba.gov/oit to learn more about the agreement. For information about MED Week 2011, go to www.medweek.gov .

via Trade Between U.S. and Turkish Firms Set to Grow Rapidly.

October 3, 2011
Turkish Airlines Becomes First to Fly Commercial Flight to Tripoli

A Turkish Airlines passenger plane landed in Tripoli Saturday noon to become the first international commercial flight to arrive in the Libyan capital since the establishment of a no-fly zone in war-torn Libya in March, a Libyan aviation official said.

The flight from Istanbul, with 43 passengers on board, arrived at the Maitiga International Airport in eastern Tripoli, at about 11:50 local time, he said.

A crew member of the Boeing 737-800 who identified himself as Ahmed, said that Turkish flights to Libya had been suspended since February 28 as Libya gradually sank into domestic chaos,.

He went on to say that after the resumption of the route,there will be flights between Istanbul and Tripoli every four days, adding that daily flights might be possible at the end of October.

Turkish Airlines had already resumed flights from Istanbul to Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, on September 13.

In March, the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing a “no-fly zone” over Libya aimed at protecting civilians from air assaults by the deposed former Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi, halting all international commercial flights from and to the Libyan capital.

More airlines are expected to follow the Turkish Airlines’ example in the coming days and resume flights to Libya, but flights will return to normal when Tripoli International Airport is functioning again. Alitalia has already announced it would resume service on November 7, when the Tripoli airport is expected to be cleared.

via Turkish Airlines Becomes First to Fly Commercial Flight to Tripoli.

October 3, 2011
Red Crescent Makes Progress at Its Sivas Copper Project

Red Crescent Makes Progress at Its Sivas Copper Project

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Sep 28, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Red Crescent Resources Limited /quotes/zigman/1318962 CA:RCB -30.00% , a mineral exploration and development company focused on base metals in Turkey, today announced that it has completed a new geochemical soil survey and that drilling operations have begun on the main zone of its Sivas Copper Project. The geochemical survey results confirmed promising indicated concentrations of a polymetallic spectrum of base and precious metals, including gold.

“The indicative geochemical results from two of the completed lines of soil samples taken from the identified mineralised listvenite zones at the project in proximity to the first drill hole MZ1, which are both supplementary and complimentary to the historical works done by Falconbridge, has unequivocally shown that polymetallic mineralisation may potentially exist over areas of the properties within the project,” said Alan Clegg, Chairman and CEO of Red Crescent Resources. “Further this has confirmed the anecdotal evidence that Gold exists within the mineralised zones that form the project. Now that we have the successful first drill hole MZ1 completed and the core analysed, at least along its surface by a NITON XRF field measurement unit, it would appear that by all means the potential for a polymetallic mineralised body is being indicated. We now look forward to the formal laboratory results from the core sampling in the coming weeks hopefully confirming the findings.”

The results from the geochemical analysis of the soil sample lines either side of the first drill hole just completed in the main zone (MZ) indicated average and high values respectively, of the main metals being targeted as follows and measured in parts per million (ppm); Copper 600ppm and 5000ppm, Nickel 2300ppm and 3700ppm, Molybdenum less than 1ppm and Gold 0.024ppm. It should be noted that Nickel most likely originates from the silica-carbonate altered ophiolite (listvenite), as a component of the mineral olivine. It is expected to occur in elevated concentrations and does not necessarily imply anything economic at this stage as the results from other soil lines sampled are awaited.

The drill core recovery from completion of the first dill hole, MZ1, was excellent and the continuous mineralised zone intersected from 14m below collar was 60m true width for the mineralised listvenite zone when adjusted for dip. Measurement of the mineralisation spot grades on the surface of the core using a handheld NITON XL3t500DM XRF spectrometer (Ultra High Resolution unit with Silicon Drift Detector) correspond to the soil sampling results that Copper, Nickel, Molybdenum are contained and are elevated within the mineralisation intersected. The surface spot grades of the target metals, measured in percent contained, high and average respectively, are as follows; Copper 0.5% and 0.07%, Nickel 0.5% and 0.07%, Molybdenum 0.03% and 0.01% and Arsenic 0.07% and 0.005%. These results are to be confirmed by independent laboratory results from core sampling submitted for testing.

(nb:NITON units are Fundamental Parameter based calibrated and certified units by the manufacturer for in-situ mineralisation)(nb:broken ore)(nb:and percent level analysis of process bulk samples.)

Red Crescent also announced that further to the press release of August 16th it has successfully obtained the relevant environmental and forestry permits for the planned drilling and trenching program with at least 2250m for approximately 14 Holes of Diamond Core and RC drilling to be completed this season on both the main zone (MZ) and south east zone (SEZ) of the Sivas Copper Project (The Project).

The Sivas Project is located in the Sivas region of north-east Central Turkey and approximately 650 km north-west of Red Crescent’s Hakkari Zinc Project and 400 km north-east of the Company’s Tufanbeyli Zinc Project, located at Adana.

Mike Robertson, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the technical information contained in this release.

Forward-looking statements

The statements made in this press release may contain forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company’s expectations and projections.

About Red Crescent Resources

Red Crescent Resources /quotes/zigman/1318962 CA:RCB -30.00% is a Turkey-based junior mining company targeting historically inaccessible areas where no modern application of exploration techniques or technology has been applied, with high potential for discovery of significant base metal deposits. For more information, please visit: www.redcrescentresources.com .

Contacts:

TMX Equicom

Joe Racanelli

+1 416 815 0700 ext 243

jracanelli@equicomgroup.com

Red Crescent Resources Limited

Alan Clegg

+90 530 662 8964 or +27 82 469 8378

+90 312 448 2926 (FAX)

aclegg@rcrholding.com.tr

www.redcrescentresources.com

via Red Crescent Makes Progress at Its Sivas Copper Project – MarketWatch.

October 1, 2011
Turkey trains for Bosphoros tanker tragedy

Thomas Seibert

Sep 30, 2011

A Turkish Coast Guard helicopter flies over an oil tanker during a National marine pollution emergency response exercises in the Bosphorus yesterday. Osman Orsal / Reuters

A Turkish Coast Guard helicopter flies over an oil tanker during a National marine pollution emergency response exercises in the Bosphorus yesterday. Osman Orsal / Reuters

A Turkish Coast Guard helicopter flies over an oil tanker during a National marine pollution emergency response exercises in the Bosphorus yesterday. Osman Orsal / Reuters

ISTANBUL // A tanker filled with crude oil crashes into a passenger ferry on the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

Rescue units scramble to get travellers and crew members to safety, while other teams are deployed to fight a growing danger from a massive oil spill on a busy waterway in the middle of a metropolis of 15 million people.

That was the scenario for an emergency exercise staged in Istanbul yesterday.

It was designed to train rescue teams and raise awareness about the dangers of the dense traffic on a narrow strait that is used by 55,000 vessels every year.

Live television pictures showed fire-fighting boats spraying water and rescue teams in dinghies on the Bosphorus next to the tanker Avrasya and the passenger ferry Turgut Ozal.

“An accident will not announce itself it advance. We have to be ready,” Binali Yildirim, Turkey’s transport minister and the official in charge of the exercise, told the state television broadcaster TRT. “We have to keep our cool and know what to do and how.”

In a statement before the exercise, Mr Yildirim’s ministry called the Bosporus a waterway of strategic importance that played a key role in energy transport – but he added that it was “also one of the most dangerous waterways in the world”.

The script for the exercise, the first of its kind, said a rudder failure of the Avrasya would lead to a collision of the vessel with the Turgut Ozal in the waters next to the Maiden’s Tower, a small island at the mouth of the Bosphorus near the Sea of Marmara.

Rescue teams and several helicopters were activated to get survivors off the ships and out of the water, while other boats brought out 3.2 kilometres of floating oil barriers.

About 600 people were scheduled to be involved in the exercise that kept the Bosphorus, one of the busiest waterways in world trade, closed for several hours.

“Nowhere in the world is the risk of an accident as high as it is on the Bosphorus in Istanbul,” Mr Yildirim said this year after a meeting of several cabinet ministers called to discuss ways of preventing an oil spill like the one in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

“You have eight critical points with 90-degree bends on a total of 15 nautical miles [28km],” he added.

Turkey said that the Montreux Convention of 1936, a treaty regulating traffic on the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles that defines the straits as international waters, prevents authorities from making a pilot mandatory for ships passing the Bosphorus.

In 97 per cent of 141 accidents recorded on the Bosphorus during a five-year period, the ships involved did not have a pilot, according to the transport ministry.

Veysel Eroglu, the environment minister, said after the meeting with his cabinet colleagues that he was concerned something could go wrong during the passage of one of the nearly 10,000 tankers that use the Bosphorus every year.

“I have nightmares of a tanker accident on the Bosphorus,” Mr Eroglu said.

Presenting the plan for this week’s exercise in a statement, the transport ministry referred to a collision 32 years ago – one of the worst accidents to have happened on the Bosphorus in the recent past.

In November 1979, an oil tanker filled with almost 100,000 tonnes of crude from Libya that was on its way to the Romanian Black Sea coast collided with a Greek freighter near the point where yesterday’s exercise was held.

“In the accident, 51 people died and the tanker ran aground with its stern 200 metres from the shore,” the ministry said. “Later, it broke apart and burned for nearly a month.”

In 1979, about 2.7 million people lived in Istanbul, just a fifth of today’s population.

According to figures from the Turkish government, 143 million tonnes of dangerous goods, including crude oil, natural gas and chemicals, pass through Istanbul on the Bosphorus every year.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has proposed building a new canal west of Istanbul to ease traffic on the Bosphorus. The project, which Mr Erdogan called “important, crazy and wonderful” when he presented it in April, foresees a man-made waterway 50km long, 150m wide and 25m deep.

tseibert@thenational.ae

via Turkey trains for Bosphoros tanker tragedy – The National.

September 30, 2011