Tag: Taner Yildiz

  • No Israel-Turkey gas deal without Erdogan OK

    No Israel-Turkey gas deal without Erdogan OK

    Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told the newspaper: We won’t operate a project with Israel without seeing that the conditions put by the prime minister are met.

    17 February 13 13:18, Globes’ correspondent

    Turkish daily “Hurriyet Daily News” quotes Energy Minister Taner Yıldız as saying that Turkey will not agree to an energy project with Israel without the approval of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, commenting on an Israeli offer to lay an undersea natural gas pipeline to Turkey for export to Europe. He told CNBC-e, “We can’t act like nothing ever happened. We won’t operate a project with Israel without seeing that the conditions put by the prime minister are met [first].”

    “Hurriyet” says, “Israel has offered to lay an undersea natural gas pipeline to Turkey’s south coast in order to sell energy to Europe. The Leviathan field, Israel’s biggest, contains an estimated 425 billion cubic meters of natural gas, and the field will produce enough gas to supply all of Israel’s needs for the coming years. As such, the country is looking to export the excess gas.”

    The paper quotes Taner as saying that Turkey’s main objective is to benefit from its geographical advantages and cooperate with its neighbors on energy, but Israel knows Turkey’s sore points, adding, “Unless the political conditions mature, beginning these kinds of projects is risky.”

    On Thursday, “Globes” reported that, in the past few weeks, the partners in the Leviathan gas field have received queries from some of Turkey’s biggest companies and Western multinationals operating in the country interested in buying natural gas from the reservoir.

    “Hurriyet” cites Israeli newspapers as suggesting that Turkey’s Zorlu Energy Group could become involved in the project. “The company said it has been an important energy player in Israel and has shares in several power plants in the country, adding that the idea of laying an undersea pipeline between the two countries had been broached several times in business meetings but official offer has been made. In Israel, Zorlu owns a 25% stake in Dorad Energy, which is developing a power plant in Ashkelon. It also has a 42% interest in cogeneration projects at the Ashdod and Ramat Negev plants.”

    Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on February 17, 2013

    © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

    via “Hurriyet”: No Israel-Turkey gas deal without Erdogan OK – Globes.

  • Turkey, France to resume N-plant talks

    Turkey, France to resume N-plant talks

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    French Minister for Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq (right) walks with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz after their meetings in Istanbul, Wednesday. — AFP

    ISTANBUL — Turkey and France have agreed to resume talks on civilian nuclear energy at a time Ankara plans to build three plants within the next five years, French Foreign Trade Minister Nicole Bricq said Wednesday.

    “We met the (energy) minister to discuss Turkey’s important projects in nuclear facilities,” said Bricq after a meeting with Energy Minister Taner Yildiz. “France claims excellence in this field…so it is only natural that we have these discussions.”

    She said: “We want Turkey to be equipped with the best and most secure technology and we can do it.”

    Yildiz said that Turkey was aware of French nuclear technology and a series of talks would be held to develop cooperation, which had stalled amid chilly ties between the nations.

    “Some important issues such as nuclear cannot be developed independently of international issues,” Yildiz said.

    For the last 10 years, diplomatic relations between Paris and Ankara have experienced several crises, fueled in particular by a French bill criminalizing denial of genocide in Armenian, vehemently denied by Ankara. The tensions hit the interests of the French businesses in Turkey, particularly in obtaining big state contracts.

    On Tuesday, Bricq said that her first visit to Turkey on behalf of the government was a “political signal” from the new French President Francois Hollande to develop closer ties, after strained relations between his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy and Turkey.

    Atmea, a joint venture owned by the French nuclear power group Areva and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has recently signaled its intention to bid to build the third plant.

    Turkey is planning to build three nuclear power plants in the next five years to reduce its dependence on foreign energy sources.

    It struck the first deal with Russia in 2010 to build the first power plant at Akkuyu in the southern Mersin province.

    China, Japan, South Korea and Canada are competing to win the Turkish tender for the second plant, to be built near the Black Sea city of Sinop. — AFP

    via Saudi Gazette – Turkey, France to resume N-plant talks.

  • Turkey’s big thirst for new power

    Turkey’s big thirst for new power

    Turkey’s big thirst for new power

    Florian Neuhof

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    Turkey is in a rush to grow its energy sector. And recent news that the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, known as Taqa, will invest heavily in Turkish coal-fired power plants shows how serious Ankara is taking this commitment.

    The deal, announced at the start of the year, will see Taqa build and operate a power generation base totalling 7,000 megawatts, or about 10 per cent of Turkey’s electricity needs by the time the plants are completed.

    Turkey’s energy minister, Taner Yildiz, is keen to emphasise that efforts will be taken to minimise the environmental impact of the country’s power sector.

    The plants will be fed with lignite, a soft brown coal reviled by environmentalists for the emissions its use entails. Lignite is found in Turkey’s soil and offers some relief in the complicated task of securing hydrocarbons from abroad.

    Turkey is dependent on imports for 91 per cent of its oil and 98 per cent of its natural gas and it relies heavily on Iran and Russia for its supplies. It is therefore keen to push the share of electricity produced from gas from about 50 per cent to less than 30 per cent in the next decade and to diversify its hydrocarbon sources.

    Turkey has reluctantly complied with United States and European Union demands to reduce imports from Iran as part of a new round of sanctions, but its dependence on Iranian supply has meant it has refused to cut economic ties with the country.

    Nevertheless, Turkey has announced it will import more Saudi Arabian and Libyan crude to counter the effect of the sanctions on Iran and the trend for Arabian Gulf oil to depart to Asia.

    Turkey’s confrontational stance with Syria, Tehran’s long-time ally, could also endanger imports from Iran.

    Iraq’s immense oil and gas reserves are another source of hydrocarbons, and a pipeline already flushes 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iraqi crude across the border to the Turkish harbour of Ceyhan. But, rather than focusing on good relations with Baghdad, Ankara seems intent on carving out its own oil and gas base in Iraq by encouraging the autonomous Kurdish north in its efforts to create an independent energy sector.

    The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey are close to signing a deal under which the Turks will build production and pipeline capacity in Kurdistan, enabling the Kurds to export their hydrocarbons outside the Iraqi infrastructure.

    The KRG’s efforts to take control of its resources is a huge source of irritation to Iraq’s central government. While closer ties with Erbil can serve to secure a great deal of oil and gas supply, the uncertainty of the geopolitics can also undermine future security of supply.

    Turkey pays attention to its gas supply in particular. With electricity use projected to rise dramatically in the coming decades, adding further gas imports is crucial in spite of efforts to reduce its share in power generation.

    But Turkey also has ambitions to establish itself as a gas-trading hub between the Middle East, gas rich Azerbaijan and Europe. Turkey and Azerbaijan have agreed on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline project that will connect the latter’s Shah Deniz II gasfield development with the Bosphorus.

    Turkish demand for gas stood at about 125,000 cubic metres a day at the end of last year. Before it can think of gaining in status as a transit hub it needs to ensure its own demands are met, experts say.

    “It still needs to facilitate additional gas purchases and encourage new developments such as Shah Deniz Phase II and Kurdistan volumes to meet its own requirements,” says Stephen O’Rourke, a gas supply analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

    Although piped gas plays the biggest part in Turkey’s thinking, Ankara has remained open to all options. This month, Mr Yildiz announced that he was in discussions with Qatar over an import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

    Another future source of gas could be the Levant Basin, where huge reserves are believed to lie under the deep seabed. But Turkey’s confrontational stance towards Greece and its icy relations with Israel disadvantages Ankara’s position in the Mediterranean, in spite of an exploration agreement with North Cyprus.

    If the Levant Basin fulfils its potential and starts yielding large amounts of gas, it could threaten Turkey’s position as a transit hub, analysts predict, as the most direct route to Europe is via Greece. But gas produced there may not be destined to Europe, anyhow.

    “We expect LNG to be the most likely export monetisation solution for these discoveries, and consequently Europe is not a guaranteed market for this gas,” says Mr O’Rourke.

    Overall, Turkey remains in a strong position to secure the gas necessary for its economic growth and to make it a significant regional hub.

    “Turkey should be able to maintain its long-term energy objectives. However, this will become more complicated, given its increasingly complicated relationships with Syria, Iran, Cyprus, and Israel,” says Daniel Wagner, the chief executive of the consultancy Control Risk Solutions.

    via Turkey’s big thirst for new power – The National.

  • Algeria, Turkey renew gas deal for 10 years

    Algeria, Turkey renew gas deal for 10 years

    ALGIERS (AFP) – Algeria and Turkey have decided to renew for 10 years from 2014 an agreement for Algeria to deliver four billion cubic metres of gas annually to Turkey, Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said on Saturday.

    photo_1357411715240_1_0-18egtq3The official APS news agency said it was “decided to extend the agreement by 10 years, with the possibility of increasing the volume of gas exported.”

    Algeria and Turkey signed a 20-year agreement in 1988 on the sale and purchase of four billion cubic metres of gas annually, and which came into effect in 1994.

    Speaking after a meeting in Algiers with visiting Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, Yousfi told reporters that Algeria’s Sonatrach and Turkey’s Botas have “already decided on the conditions and terms of the new agreement.”

    Turkey’s rising gas needs are expected to quadruple over the next 10 years.

    “We have said we wish to increase our imports to six billion cubic metres a year. Everything will depend on Algeria’s export capacity,” Yildiz said.

    via Algeria, Turkey renew gas deal for 10 years – The West Australian.

  • Minister says Turkey will keep buying gas from Iran

    Minister says Turkey will keep buying gas from Iran

    Despite sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, Turkey stated it will keep buying gas from the former country

    AFP , Wednesday 26 Dec 2012

    Turkey will keep buying natural gas from neighbouring Iran as Western allies raise pressure over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday.

    “It is out of question for us to take a step backward,” Yildiz was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. “Furthermore, we have not been asked to take such a step.”

    Iran is Turkey’s second biggest natural gas supplier after Russia, and Yildiz said that Tehran supplies 18-20 percent of the gas that Turkey consumes.

    On November 30, the US Senate unanimously approved new economic sanctions aimed at further crippling Iran’s energy, shipping and port sectors a year after the Congress passed tough restrictions against Tehran.

    The latest US proposal is expected to sail through the US House of Representatives and be signed into law by President Barack Obama.

    Iran’s economy is struggling to cope with tightening sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over the past two years.

    An EU measure which took effect in July halted European purchases of Iranian crude oil, and has since caused Tehran’s oil exports to Asian customers to decline by between 10-30 percent.

    On December 7 however, the United States extended exemptions from sanctions designed to choke Iran’s oil exports to nine major economic powers, including Turkey, China, Taiwan, India and South Korea.

    Yildiz noted on Wednesday that the Turkish oil refiner TUPRAS has continued to import crude oil from Iran.

    “Unlike some European countries, Turkey is not a country which imports three-five percent of its needs from Iran,” the minister explained in a reference to crude oil shipments.

    “Last year, Turkey met almost half of its needs from Iran. It is an important source of imports therefore.”

    Yildiz added that Turkey had bought more oil from Libya, Saudi Arabia and Russia to make up for declining crude imports from Iran due to US-EU sanctions.

    via Minister says Turkey will keep buying gas from Iran – Region – World – Ahram Online.

  • Turkey could get more natural gas from Russia

    Turkey could get more natural gas from Russia

    MOSCOW, Dec. 20 (UPI) — A spokeswoman for the Russian Energy Ministry said Moscow was ready to increase the amount of natural gas it ships to Turkey.

    Russia sends around 950 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year to Turkey through the Blue Stream and Transbalkan pipelines. An unnamed spokeswoman for the country’s Energy Ministry told the Platts news service that more gas could be delivered at Ankara’s request.

    “In principle, Russia is ready to increase supplies to Turkey by 100 billion cubic feet year, we are waiting for an official request from the Turkish side,” she said.

    During a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin this month, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Ankara is keen to secure more natural gas from Russia in light of sanctions on Iran.

    Yildiz said both sides could work outside conventional contractual frameworks to increase gas deliveries.

    Russian energy company Gazprom aims to build its South Stream gas pipeline through Turkish territory for European consumers. Turkey would also host pipeline networks that would ship non-Russian supplies to the eurozone.

    via Turkey could get more natural gas from Russia – UPI.com.