By Orhan Coskun
The result of a tender to build the Turkish section of a gas pipeline extending to Greece has been canceled due to a corruption probe involving the Turkish partner of the winning consortium, officials said yesterday.
A consortium of Poland’s Maxer and Turkey’s Peker submitted the best bid of $55.7 million in the Nov. 25 tender for the pipeline. They had been due to start construction work in April and complete the 210-kilometer (130-mile) pipeline section within 18 months.
Peker was part of a large corruption probe affecting Turkey’s Energy Ministry and state natural gas pipeline Botas, the officials said. The company’s owner, Erhan Peker, was briefly detained during the investigation but later released. A fresh tender will be held for the pipeline but the date remains unclear, the officials said.
Greece and Turkey agreed last year to build a gas pipeline between them to carry up to 11-12 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year — 3bcm for Greece itself and the rest for re-export to Europe.
Gas transmission had been estimated at 250 million cubic meters in 2006, rising gradually to 750 million. Turkey hopes to raise the volume eventually to 11-12bcm by extending the pipeline to Italy.
The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, has strongly backed the project and provided funds for the feasibility studies. Greece and Turkey, which rely heavily on gas imports from Russia, hope to become energy hubs for southern Europe by importing gas from the Caspian Sea and sending it on to Europe.
(Reuters)