Turkey
sees Russian, Kazakh and Turkmen oil filling most of
a planned $4 billion pipeline from its
Black Sea
coast to the
Mediterranean port at Ceyhan, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.
Turkey
also expects to sign an agreement with the Azeri
government on procuring extra natural gas, Yildiz said. A disagreement about
pricing and diplomatic wrangling over
Armenia
has held up the deal.
Calik Group of
Turkey
and
Eni
,
Italy
’s biggest energy company, are joint partners in the
Trans-Anatolian Pipeline that aims to deliver Caspian fuel from the northern
city of
Samsun
to Ceyhan, the terminus for two other oil pipelines,
while bypassing
Istanbul
’s congested
Bosporus
channel.
Russian companies may take a stake in the
project, pipeline operator Transneft said last week. State-run
Rosneft
,
Russia
’s biggest oil producer, agreed in October to supply
the pipeline with its own crude.
“After the Russian initiatives to secure
oil for the pipeline, we expect fuel to be procured from
Russia
,
Kazakhstan
and
Turkmenistan
,” Yildiz told Reuters in an interview late on
Tuesday.
“There are many reasons to back this
pipeline politically,” he said. “It has strategic importance and will
contribute to
Turkey
becoming a petroleum and natural gas corridor.” The 550-kilometer
pipeline is expected to have a capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day.
Yildiz said the cancellation of a tender
won by a Russian-led group to build
Turkey
’s first nuclear power station will not affect planned
energy projects.
A top court in November canceled the
results of last year’s tender, when a consortium made up of
Russia
’s Inter RAO and Atomstroiexport and
Turkey
’s Park Teknik was the only bidder, because the power
prices it proposed far exceeded current levels.
Turkey
is planning another tender in 2010. No technical
obstacles were preventing a deal to procure an additional 8 billion cubic
meters (bcm) of Azeri gas and Turkey expects the continuing negotiations to
yield an agreement, Yildiz said, without giving a timeline for finalizing the
deal.
Talks between the two sides have lagged
over the price
Azerbaijan
wants to charge for the extra gas, some of which will be used by
Turkey
while the rest will be shipped on to
Europe
.
Turkey
now buys 6 bcm of gas annually from
Azerbaijan
’s Shakh Deniz basin at a discount that is about half
of what it pays
Russia
and
Iran
, its main suppliers of the fuel.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mahmadyarov
is scheduled to visit
Ankara
tomorrow
for bilateral talks that are expected to include energy. “From a technical
perspective, I don’t see any obstacle blocking the gas talks with
Azerbaijan
. I can’t say that we have reached the final point on
the transport rates, but I don’t see any serious problems,” Yildiz said.
(
from the newspaper “Kathimerini”,
24/12/2009
)