Energy, Economy and Foreign Policy: Şubat 2014

23 Şubat 2014 Pazar

Iran names conditions of reduction of gas prices for Turkey

Trend Elmira Tariverdiyeva, Tamkin Jafarov

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh named conditions for reducing gas prices for Turkey, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on Feb.22.

"We are willing to lower the gas price supplied to Turkey, upon condition that it will increase the volume of imported gas from Iran," Zanganeh said, adding that the share of gas in Turkey`s market is important for Iran.

Earlier, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said that natural gas prices, offered by Iran, does not satisfy Turkey.

Currently Turkey and Iran are in talks on gas prices, but no agreement has been reached between the parties yet, according to the minister.

In March 2012, Ankara appealed to International arbitration over the issue price of Iranian gas price.

The agreement on supplies of 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey on an annual basis was signed with Iran in 1996.

The prices are not officially disclosed, but according to Turkish media outlets, Turkey buys Iranian gas for $490 per thousand cubic meters.

In 2012 Turkey imported 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran, according to BP statistics.
Earlier Yildiz said that, in 2013 Turkey imported gas from Iran worth $4.5 billion.

Source: http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2245044.html

Jordan, Iraq preparing to tender $18b oil pipeline

The Jordan Times

Work to construct a $18 billion oil pipeline from Iraq’s Basra to Jordan’s port city of Aqaba may start soon, as officials from both coutries are meeting with international firms interested in the mega-project, an official said Saturday.

Jordan and Iraq are speeding up their measures and efforts to construct the pipeline, a senior official at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) told The Jordan Times.

The official, who preferred to remain unnamed, said that Jordanian and Iraqi officials held meetings last week in Aqaba with several international companies that showed interest in carrying out the scheme, adding that work on the project is set to begin soon.

Once completed –– the pipeline is projected to export 2.25 million barrels of oil per day through the Kingdom. It would generate between $2 billion and $3 billion a year in revenues for the Kingdom, according to estimates of Iraqi and Jordanian officials.

The source said that Jordanian and Iraqi officials had agreed to prepare copies of the tenders from the Iraqi side.

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12 Şubat 2014 Çarşamba

Turkey to consume less gas in 2014

AA

Turkey’s total domestic gas consumption for 2014 is estimated to be 46.5 billion cubic meters, a decrease of 0.5 billion cubic meters compared to last year, according to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).

Turkey consumed 45.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2012 and 47 billion cubic meters in 2013.
Turkey’s energy import bill decreased by 7 percent in 2012, falling to $55.9 billion from $60.1 billion the previous year.

Russia has become Turkey’s largest natural gas supplier, importing more than half of its annual 45.2 billion cubic meters from Russia’s energy giant Gazprom.

Gazprom sold 162.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe last year, out of which 26.6 billion cubic meters, 16 percent, was sold to Turkey.

Turkey’s gas trading hub dream realistic: Oxford Study

Reuters

Turkey’s vision of becoming a gas trading hub is realistic given its diversity of supply but it would need to speed up market reform and invest more in gas infrastructure, an Oxford University study said on Feb. 10.

Turkey has long wanted to have a major power and gas market, capitalizing on growing domestic demand for gas and its proximity to cheap natural gas resources.

It has few natural resources of its own, but is at the centre of nearly all gas pipelines that would link Central Asia to Europe, defining the regional market for decades to come.

Turkey’s rise to prominence in energy markets would also add to its growing influence as a major economic and political player between Central Asia, the Middle East and the European Union, to which Ankara aspires to be a member.

According to state pipeline company BOTAS, Turkish natural gas demand is forecast to grow to 81 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year by 2030 from the current 47 bcm/yr.

It could potentially trade up to 100 bcm of gas a year when large-scale investments in gas infrastructure have taken place, such as new liquefied natural (LNG) gas and storage facilities, said the paper by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

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11 Şubat 2014 Salı

Cyprus to open fresh peace talks

Financial Times Andreas Hadjipapas, Dan Dombey, Kerin Hope

The leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus are set to announce a fresh initiative to reunify the Mediterranean island following months of quiet diplomacy by the US aimed at achieving a broader reconciliation involving Israel, Turkey and Cyprus.

Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Dervis Eroglou, his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, will on Tuesday make a joint commitment to resuming negotiations “in a results-oriented manner” hoping to wrap up a peace settlement as soon as possible, according to the text of a joint declaration leaked to Cypriot media at the weekend.

The US intervention ended a five-month stalemate, typical of previous efforts to reinvigorate UN sponsored peace talks, over details of turning the ethnically divided island into a federation. This would be formed of two constituent states in which Greek and Turkish Cypriots would continue to run their own domestic affairs.

“The two sides will seek to create a positive atmosphere to ensure the talks succeed. They commit to avoiding blame games or other negative comments on the negotiations,” the statement said.

Relations between the two communities have been sour since 2004 when the Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan plan – named after the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan – in a referendum. Mr Anastasiades was the only Greek Cypriot leader to back the plan. The result meant that the smaller Turkish Cypriot community living on the north of the island was blocked from EU membership, even though it backed reunification in a separate vote.

With the two biggest Greek Cypriot political parties backing the new initiative, there was optimism in Nicosia that an end to the island’s 40-year division could be within reach.

Recent discoveries of large offshore gas deposits between Cyprus and Israel that could be channelled to European markets by a pipeline through Turkey have fuelled hopes of a settlement.

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Azerbaijan offers Iraq access to Europe gas pipelines

AFP

Azerbaijan has offered Iraq access to the "Southern Gas Corridor" connecting the Caspian Sea to the European Union to help Baghdad sell natural gas to Europe, Baku's foreign minister said Monday.

Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists in the Iraqi capital that officials in Baghdad had already expressed interest in joining the massive project, which is supported by the United States and aims to reduce Europe's dependence on gas from Russia.

"It's a huge project ... and it's open if Iraq is also interested to deliver their own natural gas," Mammadyarov said at a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari.

"The project is there, so if any other countries ... want to join the Southern Gas Corridor, including Iraq, who already expressed some interest for this project, we are ready to start negotiations." Gas pumped from the immense new Shah Deniz II field will travel across Azerbaijan and Georgia and across Turkey through a new Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, which is set to be a key part of the Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Turkey and the EU.

Russia, meanwhile, backs a new pipeline under construction known as South Stream that aims to transport 63 billion cubic metres under the Black Sea to Europe.

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