Iraqi oil: Once seen as U.S. boon, now it’s mostly China’s

Sean Cockerham    McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Ten years after the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the country’s oil industry is poised to boom and make the troubled nation the No.2 oil exporter in the world. But the nation that’s moving to take advantage of Iraq’s riches isn’t the United States. It’s China.

America, with its own homegrown energy bonanza, isn’t going after the petroleum that lies beneath Iraq’s sands nearly as aggressively as is China, a country hungry to fuel its rise as an economic power.

Iraq remains highly unstable in terms of security, infrastructure and politics. Chinese state-owned oil companies appear more willing to put up with that than Americans are.

“The Chinese have a higher tolerance for risk,” said Gal Luft, a co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington research center focused on energy.

The International Energy Agency expects China to become the main customer for Iraq’s vast oil reserves. Fatih Birol, the agency’s chief economist, recently declared “a new trade axis is being formed between Baghdad and Beijing.” Birol said that about 80 percent of Iraq’s future oil exports were expected to go to Asia, mainly to China.

China Will Soon Be Drilling A Third Of Iraq's Oil

Rob Wile     Business Insider

Ten years after the invasion of Baghdad, major American oil companies are staying away from investing in Iraq's oil resources, McClatchy's Sean Cockerham reports.

Instead, many of Iraq's newest oil fields are now controlled by Chinese.

Iraq possesses the second-largest oil deposit in the world, in the West Qurna region. Forbes says the country could easily become the second-largest oil producer in the world after Saudi Arabia.

Only Exxon and Occidental have active stakes in Iraqi oil fields. The reason for America's relative absence, Cockerham writes, is that the country is still too unstable. 

Chinese firms don't seem to mind that as much, he says: one third of all future Iraqi oil production is expected to come from Chinese-owned fields.

There are in fact many U.S. drillers, including Halliburton, operating in the fields themselves, Cockerham notes.

Syrian Financial Capital's Loss Is Turkey's Gain

Syrian refugee children in refugee camp in Turkey

Deborah Amos     NPR

There is a brain drain in Syria, an exodus of the skilled and the educated as the Syrian revolt grinds into a third year.

The health care system is one casualty, as hospitals and clinics are shelled and doctors flee the country.

The business community is another — particularly in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once the country's industrial and financial hub.

As Aleppo was dragged into the war, many in the business community fled to southern Turkey, less than a two-hour drive away. Gaziantep, a Turkish border town, has become a new hub for Syrian businessmen.

At the recent opening of a new restaurant in Gaziantep, the excitement among Syrian exiles was all about the white creamy sauce served with the spicy chicken.

"Garlic, very important with chicken," insisted customer Ahmad Showah, who has longed for Syrian cuisine since he came to Turkey seven months ago. For him, the traditional Syrian sauce was part nostalgia, part identity — a powerful reminder of home.

"Garlic, eggs, oil and spices," said restaurant owner Mohamad Serjeh, listing the ingredients of Syria's "special" sauce as he piled plates with crispy chicken. Serjeh brought his stainless steel chicken roasters from his ruined shop in Aleppo and opened the first Syrian restaurant in this Turkish border town.

China in Iraq: winning without a war

Naser AL-Tamimi*        Al Arabiya

Not long ago, Robert Kaplan, the well-known American writer, “complained” in The Wall Street Journal, saying: “... We have liberated Iraq so that Chinese firms can extract its oil.” The sentiment that was expressed by Kaplan was in fact reflecting the evolution of the situation in Iraq, where the Chinese presence was rising strongly. Tellingly, Beijing’s position in Iraq evolved quickly, from among the most outspoken of critics of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, to emerging as one of the biggest economic beneficiaries of the war in Iraq.

China’s Catching-up Game

Ten years after the American invasion, Iraq turned into an important energy / trade partner for China. Indeed, the trade between Iraq and China doubled almost 34 times. The volume of bilateral trade between the two states soared to $17.5 billion by end-2012 from small amount of $ 517 million in 2002. In the same period, the trade between Iraq and the U.S. increased only 5.6 times. The bilateral trade between both countries rose to $ 21.6 billion by end-2012 from $ 3.8 billion in 2002. Last year, China was both the second-largest purchaser of Iraqi exports, $ 12.6bn, (after the U.S. $ 19.6bn) and the second-largest supplier of imports, $ 4.9bn, (after Turkey $ 10.8 bn), according to latest data from the U.N. Comtrade data. The United States still Iraq’s largest trade partners, however the current trends suggest that China will soon overtake America to become Baghdad’s top trade partner.

The future of Cyprus: A troubled island story

The Economist

Its bail-out may keep Cyprus in the single currency, but at a high cost

DREAD was mixed with anger. Cypriots feared that deposits in the two largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank, might be taxed or converted into worthless equity—and worried about the economic effects. The glum mood in the shops and cafés of Nicosia was little improved when the terms of their country’s €10 billion ($13 billion) bail-out emerged on March 25th. The deal will close Laiki Bank, restructure Bank of Cyprus and impose big losses in both institutions on deposits above €100,000.

Many anxious Cypriots queued patiently to draw cash out of ATMs. Others protested angrily in the streets, waved Russian flags and talked about leaving the euro. They had hoped that joining the European Union (in 2004) and the euro (in 2008) meant solidarity from their fellows. The troubles of the two banks were caused, some believe, by a decision to buy Greek government bonds that were then restructured. They feel they are being punished by the EU for no fault of their own.

Victimhood is hardly new in Cyprus: the island’s troubles are routinely blamed on outsiders like Turkey, Greece, Britain or (now) Russia. What stuck in the craw was being told that the Cypriot business model had to change. Not all agree: speaking at a conference organised by The Economist in Nicosia on March 22nd, Chris Pissarides, a Nobel-prize-winning economist, argued that relying on business services and tourism in an economy with no manufacturing tradition was quite sensible.

Turkey’s Big Week Means New Clout In An Emerging Middle East

Karl VICK   TIME

A sandstorm was kicking up at Ben Gurion International midday last Friday, winds bad enough to cancel the departure ceremony for President Obama’s winning trip to Israel. But in a sheet metal trailer on the tarmac, Obama was calming another storm, three years along and finally running out of bluster. In the box with him was his host, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Nentayahu.  In Netanyahu’s hand was a cell phone. And on the other end of the line was the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As arranged in advance by Obama and diplomats from all three countries, Bibi read out an official apology for the nine lives lost on the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara in May 2010, when Israeli commandos boarded the aid ship en route to breaking Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip.  Netanyahu’s words, along with a promise to compensate survivors and continue to ease strictures on the Palestinian enclave, ended a diplomatic cleavage seated in sheer cussedness, and restored what one Israeli diplomat calls “the triangle” – made up of the two most stable and prosperous democracies in the Middle East, and the superpower that needs them on the same side.

Turkey ready to negotiate two-state solution for Cyprus: Turkish FM

Turkey is ready to negotiate a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, if reunification talks between two sides fail and no agreement is reached over the establishment of a joint commission on gas resources on the island, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.

Davutoğlu criticized the Greek Cypriot plan to use oil and gas exploration rights around the eastern Mediterranean island as collateral for an international bailout package that it desperately needs to protect its economy from going bankrupt. “As Turkey, we want negotiations to start between both sides on the island and between Turkey and Greece, and we want a result, eventually. But Greek Cyprus unilaterally enacted a law that ignores the rights of Turkish Cypriots over the resources around Cyprus,” daily Habertürk quoted Davutoğlu as saying.

“We have three paths ahead … The U.N. mission should be accelerated and the sides should talk on a comprehensive solution and the resources should belong to a united Cyprus. A new state, which Turks are a part of, should be able to use them,” he added.

Turkey gas move piles pressure on Cyprus

Daniel Dombey       The Financial Times
 
Turkey is seeking to ratchet up the pressure on Cyprus as the island battles with financial crisis by taking action against energy groups that collaborate with the Cypriot government over offshore gas.

Taner Yildiz, Turkish energy minister, announced on Wednesday that Eni, the Italian energy giant, would be barred from current and future projects in Turkey if it proceeded with a licence it won in January to explore gas off the Cyprus coast.

Turkey which invaded the island in 1974 to forestall a union with Greece, has no diplomatic relations with the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government in the south of the island.

“We have decided not to work with Eni in Turkey, including halting their current projects,” Mr Yildiz said. Eni, which has limited activity in Turkey, expressed its hope it could reach an agreement with Ankara “and return to our usual good relations”.

Turkey’s uncompromising move comes as Cyprus is seeking to capitalise on offshore natural gas deposits that could total 200bn cubic metres and looks for alternative sources of growth to its stricken banking sector.

Israel and Turkey eye ties on Syria

Daniel Dombey & John Reed         The Financial Times
 
The prospect of a reconciliation between Turkey and Israel has paved the way for closer co-operation on Syria and removed a big obstacle to collaboration over the development of strategic energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, officials on both sides say.

Ties between the two former allies suddenly improved on Friday when Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, issued a US-brokered apology to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish opposite number, over a deadly flotilla attack in 2010.
 
Mr Netanyahu’s apology capped a week in which Turkey appeared to bolster its strategic position in an unstable Middle East. After talks with Mr Erdogan’s government, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK, declared a ceasefire in a long and bloody conflict that had become a geopolitical vulnerability for Ankara.

The rapprochement could also affect crisis-hit Cyprus, which has recently deepened its own ties with Israel, if improved Turkish-Israeli ties lead to greater energy co-operation that sidelines Nicosia.

“Fantastic week for Erdogan,” tweeted Javier Solana, the former EU policy chief, citing the Kurdish ceasefire and progress towards normal relations with Israel.

Cyprus Potential Vast Natural Gas Reserves on the Table

Naturag Gas Europe

Cyprus is making headlines these days due to its centrality in the EU banking and debt crisis, but it’s also one of the few areas in Europe where potentially vast unexplored natural gas reserves are to be found offshore.

In a recent international energy seminar organized by the Greek Institute of Energy of South East Europe (ΙΕΝΕ), interesting facts and data were presented by scientists and market experts that shed light to a series of fascinating developments that will shape to an extent the energy game in Europe.

Presently six sea blocks of Cyprus have been awarded for research to international companies (Blocks: 2, 3, 9, 10, and 12). The President of the Cyprus agency for hydrocarbons (KRETYK), Charalambos Ellinas, stated that his organization estimates around 40 trillion cubic feet could be found only in these 6 blocks and that by 2020 the country could export around 2 trillion cf per annum to world markets, an impressive amount, enough to cover the needs of a country like France. Already French Total, Italian Eni and Korean KOGAS have bought research and exploration rights and Noble Energy in Block 12 has made the first discovery of an estimated 3.5 TCF. The total capital expenditure for the six blocks over the coming years is estimated at $2 billion and Ellinas also commented that his agency assumes that block 9 (to be researched by Total) most probably contains twice as much gas as the 12 one.

Turkey to the rescue Cyprus?

Timothy Ash*     The Financial Times

Greek Cypriots must be thinking that with friends like these (the EU and Russia, both seeking to extract their pound of flesh for any bail-out), who needs enemies?

Well, what if Cyprus begins to think outside the box, and what if it goes to its erstwhile enemy, Turkey, for assistance?


How about this: Turkey provides €7bn in assistance, saving Cypriot savers from the chop in exchange for Cyprus agreeing to the terms of the 2004 Annan peace plan for the unification of the island.

In return for its cash, Turkey would get agreement on the peace plan it backed back in 2004 and which was supported then by two thirds of Turkish Cypriots in an island-wide referendum. Admittedly, it was rejected by three quarters of Greek Cypriots but this was in no small part due to the intransigence of the then Papadopoulos administration.

By so doing, Turkey would save a very big chunk of the substantial aid (and significant military spending) it pumps into northern Cyprus every year, and the north would gain access to EU structural funds. Turkey would also remove a big Achilles heel in terms of its own EU accession bid, stalled by disagreement over the divided island.

Trouble in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Yuri M. Zukov*       Foreign Affairs

The Coming Dash for Gas 

In recent years, resource disputes in the South China Sea have made headlines across the world. But another body of water -- the Mediterranean -- is rapidly becoming as volatile as its eastern cousin. Exploratory drilling near the coasts of Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey has unearthed vast reserves of natural gas. Competition over the rights to tap those resources is compounding existing tensions over sovereignty and maritime borders. Without more active engagement by outside powers, these disagreements will be difficult to resolve.

Israel stands to be the main beneficiary of the eastern Mediterranean’s bounty, due mainly to the geographic distribution of recent discoveries. In 2009 and 2010, a pair of U.S.-Israeli consortiums exploring the seabed near Haifa discovered the Tamar and Leviathan fields, which collectively hold an estimated 26 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas. The timing of these discoveries was opportune. Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, Israel has suffered frequent supply interruptions and the eventual termination of its contract with Egypt, which had previously provided 40 percent of the gas Israel consumed, at below-market rates. The Tamar and Leviathan fields, once developed, could satisfy Israel’s electricity needs for the next 30 years and even allow it to become a net energy exporter.

Turkey preparing to produce its own indigenous fighter jet

Saab A JAS - 39 Gripen fighter

Burak BEKDIL   Hurriyet Daily News  

Turkish arms manufacturer TAI has signed a technical assistance deal with Swedish Saab to build a fighter jet.

It is no secret that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been passionate about two “made in Turkey” vehicles: a car and a fighter aircraft. Interestingly, Turkish officials have found one company that builds both and could help Turkey design and develop indigenous models. Talks with Sweden’s Saab for a Turkish fighter jet are inching forward but industry sources and analysts remain skeptical.

Turkish officials have been in talks with Saab (and with Korean Aerospace Industries) to find the best modality for this ambitious project since 2010 and 2011. In August 2011, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), signed a deal with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) to carry out the conceptual design work for fighter and jet trainer aircraft Turkey hopes to build.

In recent months a Turkish delegation, including SSM officials, visited Saab headquarters and production facilities in Sweden. And more recently, TAI and Saab penned a preliminary agreement for technical assistance which will pave the way for a subsequent support deal. As part of the planned agreement, TAI is expected to acquire Saab’s aircraft design tools.

International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol: Nuclear power key to Turkish energy future

Turkey should build “as much nuclear power as possible” to help meet its growing energy needs, International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol said in Brussels on Sunday night.

Speaking at the German Marshall Fund's Brussels Forum, the economist qualified his endorsement by saying that nuclear power should only be embraced “with attention given to seismic risks” that could unleash a Fukushima-style accident on Turkish soil.

Birol was unwavering in his endorsement however, saying that Turkey could employ the technology safely and use it to overcome its dependence on foreign fossil fuels. The argument that Germany and Japan are jettisoning the technology also didn't sway the economist, who was quoted as saying: “When we compare Turkey and Germany there are huge differences. In Germany, electricity demand won't even grow 1 percent this year. … But as for Turkey, demand is increasing very rapidly. From this perspective, Turkey must open nuclear power plants.”

His recommendation comes after Ankara's announcement this week that it will begin accepting bids for a newly proposed nuclear plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop. Birol's comments also come amid sustained criticism of Ankara's nuclear plans and a $25 billion nuclear facility planned for the southern province of Mersin, where activists say it faces an unacceptable risk of an earthquake.

The Saudi Oil War on Iran

Reza Sanati*        The National Interest

When Prince Turki al-Faisal suggested last year that the House of Saud would join in the U.S.-led sanctions against Iranian oil, by seeking to displace Tehran’s oil exports from the global economy, he was not referring to a novel idea. Indeed, Saudi Arabia has led two prior oil wars against Iran.

As detailed in Andrew Scott Cooper’s The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East, the first Saudi oil war against Iran was intended to weaken the Shah’s modernization programs. The Saudis feared Iran’s rise as a regional power, and wanted to carve out space for independent decision-making in OPEC, which at the time was dominated by Iran.

As the Shah was extremely dependent on high oil prices for his ambitious goals, the Saudis grasped that dissipation of oil prices via increased global supply would be Iran’s Achilles’ heel. As Cooper chronicles, the Saudis ultimately convinced Washington to go along with their plans, facilitated by the U.S. domestic concern about high oil prices. Near the end of the Nixon administration, the Saudis started to flood the market.

Iraqi Oil Pipeline Through Aqaba In Final Stages

Iraq-Jordan-Egypt pipeline to Gulf of Aqaba

Omar Al-Sharer   Al Monitor's Iraq Pulse

Iraq is close to completing design of a pipeline to carry Iraqi oil to Jordan and Egypt through the Gulf of Aqaba. Once completed, the project is to be handed over to a specialized company, pursuant to investment regulations.

It is expected that this pipeline will fulfill Iraq's needs for oil derivatives; Iraq will use Egyptian refineries in exchange for supplying Egypt with around four million barrels of crude oil per month. In this regard, the Iraqi spokesman at the Ministry of Oil, Assem Jihad, said that “Iraq has extended a pipeline from the oilfields of Basra to the Haditha region in the far west of Anbar, near the Jordanian border. Iraq has formed a set of technical committees to design the pipeline that will extend from Haditha to the Jordanian port of Aqaba. The project will be open for investments."

He added, “The export capacity of the pipeline amounts to one million barrels per day. A gas pipeline will shortly be built.”

The part of the pipeline situated within the Iraqi borders provides oil to many cities across the Euphrates, and several refineries in Anbar.

During his visit to Baghdad at the beginning of the month, Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil discussed supplying Iraqi oil to the Egyptian refineries with his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki.

These three energy pipelines could shake up geopolitics

Steve Le Vine        QUARTZ

Three of the most volatile parts of the Middle East—Iran, Iraq and Israel—are the scene of oil and gas initiatives that could shake up geopolitics there and beyond. The efforts center on three energy pipelines, at least two of which seem likely to be built.

The first is an attempt by Iran to supply Pakistan with natural gas. On March 11, Pakistani President Asif Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the construction of a new section of a proposed 1,200-mile pipeline connecting the two countries. Iran claims its own section of the line is almost finished, starting from the giant South Pars natural gas field—the world’s largest—and going to the border with Pakistan. The ceremony marked the start of construction of the 485-mile Pakistani leg. Iran is offering $500 million in finance toward the estimated $1.5 billion cost of the Pakistan portion, according to the Pakistanis.

If the pipeline is successful—the longest shot of the three considering Western-led sanctions against Iran—it will provide an economic jolt for gas-starved Pakistan. If the line is extended to India, it could also help to soften India-Pakistani friction, the underlying cause of South Asian instability. It also would create a new economic belt stretching from the Middle East to the depths of the subcontinent.

Could the recent oil and gas discoveries in the Aegean Sea turn the region into the 'New Gulf'?

 Al Jazeera

Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of oil and gas are believed trapped under the seabed around Greece - enough to wipe out the country's debt for good.

But can they get to it? And who else is looking to get their hands on the energy bonanza?

Some experts say the recent discoveries of oil and gas in the Aegean Sea could turn the entire region into the 'New Gulf'. But where there is oil, there is usually some sort of conflict.

The country believes that it has at least $600bn worth of gas and oil reserves.

And the US Geological Society estimates there are around 22 billion barrels of oil in the Ionian Sea, off western Greece, and another 4 billion barrels in the northern Aegean Sea.

Turkey also has oil and gas in the area - its total reserves are estimated at about 20 trillion cubic feet.

There is an estimated 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas off the shore of the Greek-held part of Cyprus. In fact the eastern Mediterranean - surrounded by Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus - holds an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of gas - enough to supply the world for a year.

Meanwhile, Israel has 33 trillion cubic feet of gas, which is worth about $670bn.

We look at how Greece may cancel its debt by tapping into these natual resources.

Source:  http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/countingthecost/2013/03/2013316112510773383.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

Iraq and Iran’s Oil Pipeline Politics

Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline Ceremony 11 March 2013. (Photo: Mian Khursheed)

 Elie Chalhoub    Al Akhbar English

Away from the region’s headlines and wars, plans are being methodically put in place that could redraw the strategic map of the Middle East, erasing one of the region’s key colonial-era features.

Recent moves by Iran and Iraq to press ahead with the construction of a series of new oil and gas export pipelines could be attributed to Iran’s bid to counter international sanctions. The planned pipelines could also reflect Iraq’s economic recovery or perhaps pressure from oil companies for new export routes.

There may be some truth to these explanations. But a closer look makes clear that these schemes are related.

The short-term aims are evident. They include trying to lure Jordan into the region’s “resistance” axis and reducing American influence on Iran’s eastern neighbor Pakistan.

But the long-term objective is more ambitious: to connect the Middle East by way of a web of economic ties that binds them into a regional partnership whose mainstays are Iran and Iraq.

Baghdad is making it increasingly clear where it stands in terms of its regional alignment. In recent months, it has openly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, clashed with Ankara, reached out to Cairo, and been at odds with Riyadh and Doha.

U.S. companies and Kurds: the biggest gainers in Iraq

Mohammad Ayesh    Al Arabiya

Iraq has recorded the highest percentage of economic growth of all Arab economies in the last few years. It has the fourth-largest oil reserves globally, and is attempting to be one of the biggest oil producers worldwide.

Iraq’s Gross Domestic Product reached 10.5 percent in 2012, the highest percentage in the Middle East, and higher than previous expectations. GDP will grow at an average of at least 9.4 percent annually between 2012 and 2016, says the central bank.

Iraq produced 3.2 million barrels of oil per day in 2012, and output is expected to grow. Iraq’s oil minister last year said he expects production to reach 8 million to 8.5 million barrels per day by 2017.

“Iraq will be the fastest-growing country in the world during 2012 and 2013,” Merrill Lynch said in a report last year. The U.S. bank foresees “a steady 9% growth rate in the Iraqi economy between 2013 and 2017,” and “this growth is ascribed in the first place to the increase in the country’s oil production.”

Over the past decade, Iraq has succeeded in moving ahead with development and reconstruction after the war. While it is slated to be one of the most important economies in the world, there are many abnormalities in its growth due to rampant poverty, corruption, and unfair wealth distribution among its people.

Fatih Birol: Our Global Energy Future

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol

 FORBES

Fatih Birol is chief economist at the International Energy Agency, which works to ensure energy security for its 28 member countries, including the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan, and publishes the World Energy Outlook – the top strategic guide to global energy markets. Birol chairs the Davos (World Economic Forum) Energy Advisory Board and was named by Forbes as one of the most influential people in the world in energy.

Birol recently shared his thoughts with Ensia and Terry Waghorn of Forbes on climate change and our global energy future.

In a recent interview on BBC’s HARDtalk you expressed pessimism about our current energy situation and concern that we have only four years before we are forced to dramatically change our lifestyle. Why are you pessimistic? 

We are seeing a very sharp increase in CO₂ emissions worldwide on one hand. On the other hand, we see an increasing number of extreme weather events. Normally, increasing CO₂ emissions and the increasing number of extreme weather events should put climate change higher in the policy agenda, but we see the opposite trend. We see that the importance of climate change is declining in the international policy agenda. This is definitely not good news, because in order to reverse the trend of increasing CO₂ emissions we need growing public awareness and action from governments, business leaders and other key stakeholders. But I do not see this happening, and this is one reason why I feel pessimistic about this situation.

Turkish Aviation companies THY and Pegasus Airlines buys 217 Airbus Total Cost 25 $ billion

Airbus A320 NEO

Reuters & The Financial Times

Turkish aviation companies THY and Pegasus Airlines buys 217 Airbus Total Cost 25 $ billion. Europe's fastest growing aviation market Turkey's aviation companies Pegasus and flag carrier company Turkish Airlines buy 217 planes for support high demand and new flight destinations

Turkish Airlines said it would buy 117 narrow-body planes from European aircraft maker Airbus, as it targets a bigger share of the global aviation market.

Turkey's flag carrier announced 82 firm orders and options to buy a further 35 aircraft in the years 2015-2020.

Turkish Airlines said in a statement it would determine later how the order would be financed.

The order consists of 25 A321-200 aircraft, four A320 NEO, 53 A321 NEO and an option for a further 35 A321 NEO, it said.

Earlier this month, Turkish Airlines' chairman told Reuters the company was still in talks with both EADS unit Airbus and Boeing over plans for narrow-body orders.

"Turkish Airlines is continuing to increase its share in the global aviation market and as the airline's board of directors announced, 117 airplanes will join the existing fleet," it said.

Russia’s Mediterranean Task Force to Comprise 5-6 Warships – Navy Chief

Russian missile cruiser "Moscow"

RIA Novosti

MOSCOW – The Russian Navy will maintain 5-6 warships in the Mediterranean Sea as a task force to defend Russia’s interests in the area, Navy Commander Adm. Viktor Chirkov said on Sunday.
"Up to five-six warships must be present in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis and control must be exercised through the command of the [Russian] Black Sea Fleet,” Chirkov said in an interview with the Zvezda TV network run by the Defense Ministry.

The Russian Navy’s Mediterranean task force will comprise frigates and cruisers, as well as support vessels, he said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday a decision to deploy a permanent naval task force in the Mediterranean had been made.

“I believe that we have the capability to form and maintain such a task force,” Shoigu said, citing the success of recent large-scale naval drills carried out by the Russian navy in the Mediterranean and Black seas.

The exercises involved warships from the Northern, Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific fleets, strategic bombers and naval infantry.

Shoigu did not mention, however, a timeline for the deployment of the new task force, which would likely require significant effort to ensure efficient logistics and the proper maintenance of warships in the Mediterranean group.

Turkey is economic winner of Iraq war

Daniel Dombey     Financial Times

ISTANBUL — The Americans won the war, the Iranians won the peace and the Turks won the contracts.

Turkey, which blocked the deployment of U.S. troops through its territory during the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, is emerging 10 years on as one of the prime beneficiaries of the battle for the Iraqi market.

Although Turkey’s relations with Baghdad are increasingly bitter, its exports to Iraq have in the past decade soared by more than 25 percent a year, reaching $10.8 billion in 2012, making Iraq Ankara’s second-most valuable export market after Germany.

Ozgur Altug, an economist at BGC Partners in Istanbul, predicts that as Iraq grows richer because of its oil reserves, demand for Turkish goods will keep climbing — by more than $2 billion a year. Turkish contractors have also been doing rich business, working on about $3.5 billion of construction projects last year, according to businessmen and officials.

One company, Calik Energy, boasts that it is building the two biggest projects in the Iraqi power sector, two gas turbine plants in the Mosul and Karbala regions, earning more than $800 million from the Iraqi government in the process.

While Iran is seen as the most influential outside power in Iraq today, on Baghdad’s streets Turkey’s presence is more visible than that of any other country, with everything from malls to furniture stores to pavement bricks bearing a Turkish trademark.

TANAP marks revolution in energy history of Azerbaijan and Turkey

Trend AZ

Trans-Anatolian pipeline project (TANAP) marks a revolution in the energy history of Azerbaijan and Turkey, as it will be implemented at the expense of funding and infrastructure of these two countries, the head of SOCAR Turkey Enerji, a board member of Petkim Petrochemical Holding Kenan Yavuz told Trend on Tuesday.

According to Yavuz, it is expected that first construction works within TANAP will start in 2014. And the first delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey will begin already in 2017, he said.

According to the latest estimates, the cost of the TANAP project totals $ 10 billion, Yavuz said.

"At the moment we are negotiating with international companies such as BP, Statoil and Total on assignment of interest in TANAP," he said.

Recent Oil Discovery off Lebanese Coast Draws Naval Powers to East Mediterranean

Claude Salhani*       oilprice.com

The discovery a few years ago of an important deposit of oil and gas reserves in the waters just off the Lebanese, Israeli and Cypriot coasts has raised the interest of foreign militaries who have in recent weeks become attracted to the region, adding ingredients at sea to an already explosive atmosphere on land.
From China to Iran, not forgetting Turkey, Israel, the United States, Britain, and France, all the principal actors in the region are now present in the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean.

In addition to the important oil fields under the sea waiting to be exploited, the bloody civil war that has been raging in next door Syria for the past two years has brought renewed interest in these troubled waters.

Russia, primarily, is very concerned by what the future holds for the Assad regime in Damascus as the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartous serves as the Russian Mediterranean Fleet’s main port of call, where the Russians continue to hold onto an important facility established back in the days of the Soviet Union. For Russia, whose northern Baltic ports freeze over during the long cold winter months, having access to a friendly port for its Med fleet is a matter of national security.

To reiterate just how important the Eastern Mediterranean Sea plays in Russian affairs, Moscow has just dispatched a naval task force comprised of about 10 vessels, including its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetzov, to the region.