Turkey ‘earns $12 billion’ from Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline

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The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) has earned $12 billion from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude oil pipeline since 2005, when oil from Baku was first pumped, Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yıldız has said.

During his speech in the southern province of Adana, Yıldız underlined the importance of the BTC pipeline for the region and trade volume created for the country.

He stated the TPAO has 6.5 percent of the shares in the BTC crude oil pipeline. British Petroleum (BP) and State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) hold the majority of the shares in the BTC pipeline, with 30 percent and 20 percent respectively. 

The pipeline has transported more than 1.8 billion barrels of crude oil to date.

Nearly 3 percent of the world’s oil trade is flowing along the BTC and Kirkuk-Yumurtalık crude oil pipelines through Turkey. The BTC pipeline has been transporting Azeri oil from the Caspian Sea to the Ceyhan Port of Turkey through the Georgian capital of Tblisi. The oil is then exported to European markets via the Mediterranean Sea.

Turkish Parliament opens way to oil market liberalization

Hurriyet Daily News

A petroleum market draft code has passed into law in General Assembly of the Parliament despite the opposition’s outcry over the measures which diminishes the role of state-owned TPAO in the market.

The Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly has approved a draft code on the petroleum market that comprises regulations to boost the dynamism in the sector by easing the circumstances for private actors and to end rentiers in the sector.

The new law, which is designed to regulate oil exploration and production operations in compliance with the country’s energy policies has passed into law late on May 29.

The government says the new regulations would liberalize the sector significantly.

But opposing groups say that it would leave the state-run Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO) in a weaker position.

During the discussion of the draft in Parliament, one of the main opposition Republican People’s Party deputies attacked the draft, blaming the government for “not thinking to make exploration and production more efficient and rather seeking ways to please foreign capital.”

Black Sea Region and Natural Gas Prospects

Natural Gas Europe

The recent international Black Sea Oil & Gas Forum held in Bulgaria highlighted culminations surrounding natural gas trade and investments in the region, which are gaining strong pace.

The president of the Bulgarian energy regulatory authority, Mrs. Evgenia Haritonova, pointed out that Bulgaria's immediate target is to increase the production of domestic natural gas while at the same time diversifying its import sources, based on the current pipeline projects, such as the Southern Corridor and the interconnectors with its neighbors - Greece, Serbia and Romania, which will be finalized within the next 18 months. Further she added that the Bulgarian government had already signed with an energy consortium comprised of the France's Total SA, Austrian OMV and Spanish Repsol to conduct research for gas in the Black Sea field of Khan Asparuh. Identical competitions with international companies will take place in due time for the offshore locations of Silistar, Sveta Marina and Teres.

Regarding shale gas, Haritonova stated that for the moment the energy Ministry is following the moratorium of the Parliament, and until it is lifted no research could be made.  It is interesting to note that Bulgaria's special advisor of the ministry of economy Petar Poptchev noted that Chevron was not so much interested in shale gas exploration, but in conventional gas.

Turkey's shale gas hopes draw growing interest

TPAO's shale gas drilling area Sarıbuğday-1 in southeast Turkey

Orhan Coskun and Evrim Ergin     Reuters


Several firms eye exploration licences, official say
Southeastern region around Diyarbakir main prospect
Major reserves could reduce reliance on imported energy


ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is hoping to find shale gas reserves big enough to help reduce its energy import dependency and is in talks with foreign firms about widening exploration after encouraging early signs, industry officials said on Monday.

The government is hoping that major shale gas reserves lie in basins in its southeast, east and western Thrace regions and officials say several firms, including smaller players already looking for conventional oil and gas, are keen to explore.

With domestic gas consumption rising and its geographic location meaning it is also well-placed to supply international markets, major exploitable reserves could be a game changer for Turkey's economy and highly lucrative for whoever finds them.

"We are keen to exploit this method and we must make economic use of shale gas," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Reuters, saying it would be a priority for the near future.

Shell is drilling for shale gas in the region around the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, while Canadian firm TransAtlantic Petroleum is also active in the region.

Turkey bought a new seismic research vessel for oil and gas seismic exploration of the offshore continental shelf

Turkey's new seismic research vessel(old name is Polarcus samur) bought from Norwegian Palarcus Company. Vessel named as Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa

Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) plans to use the 3D vessel to conduct extensive seismic exploration of the offshore continental shelf of Turkey in both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Through this collaboration arrangement Polarcus will assist TPAO to significantly improve its understanding of the offshore continental shelf of Turkey, potentially opening up several new provinces for future exploration activity, and also position the Company for prime access to this important emerging market.

Vessel docked at Istanbul today.

Turkey reached important strategic element on oil and natural gas research and exploration dispute on eastern mediterranean and aegean sea against the Israel, Greek Cyprus and Greece with this new seismic research vessel.

New Seismic vessel also important element in new offshore energy exploration projects on Turkey's exclusive economic zone.

Turkey signed a deal last year for contruction of another seismic research vessel http://www.ssm.gov.tr/home/projects/Sayfalar/proje.aspx?projeID=32

Second seismic research vessel construction deal signed for MTA (Mineral Research & Exploration General Directorate) http://www.mta.gov.tr/v2.0/daire-baskanliklari/deniz/index.php?id=yeni-gemi-duyuru

Specifications of the Vessel Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa

8 streamer ARCTIC-READY 3D/4D seismic vessel

Turkey eyes role in Iraq’s oil and gas shares

Sevim Songün Demirezen      Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey should secure a place for itself in both the northern and southern oil and gas fields of Iraq since its energy future is inextricably linked with its southern neighbor, despite frequent recent friction, sector representatives have said.

“If there is energy somewhere, then it has to flow somewhere else. You can’t escape that fate,” said Mehmet Öğütçü, the head of Global Resources Corporation, implying that fuel drilled in Iraq would be transported outside the country regardless of political or economic obstacles.

Speakers at yesterday’s “Natural Gas as the Game Changer” roundtable meeting organized by the Marmara Group Foundation predicted that Iraq would have a significant place in the natural gas bus sector in the coming years.

“Iraq will be producing around 19 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2035, which means it will become the fifth or sixth biggest producer in the world,” said Tahir Uysal, a partner at Silso Oil.

Turkey should not only conduct energy investments in northern Iraq, but should also pursue ties in the southern part of the country as well, he told the Daily News on the sidelines of the meeting.

Turkey to explore fuel with Shell in Black Sea

 

Hurriyet Daily News

Turkish Petroleum Corporation plans to search for oil in the Black Sea with Shell, sources say. However, the ministry has not announced officially

 Turkey’s state-run oil researcher TPAO prepares to search for oil in the Black Sea with the Anglo-Dutch Shell, after failed attempts by international energy companies, according to sources.

The ministerial sources said TPAO and the Holland-United Kingdom-based Shell have been in contact for an oil exploration partnership in the Black Sea. The contract date has been determined to be Feb. 14, when the two companies will reveal their search and production deal to the public, sources said.

Furthermore, TPAO, which has carried out oil and natural gas exploration by itself, has received a proposal from Shell to work together in the Gulf of Mersin, alongside the other companies’ proposals, sources say. TPAO might strike a deal with Shell or another company for a partnership in Mersin, as it had talks with 13 companies for exploring in the İskenderun-Mersin Gulf last year.

Turkish pipeline operator laments debts due to gas price hike

Gokhan Kurtaran    Hurriyet Daily News

Turkey's BOTAŞ International Limited, which operates the Turkish section of the BTC pipeline, has applied for international arbitration against the consortium that provides natural gas for the route due to operational costs. BİL chairman İbrahim Palaz tells the Daily News that the operational cost of the oil pipeline is higher than the profit defined by the agreement signed between the parties in 2002

 

The operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline’s Turkish section is applying for international arbitration against its natural gas provider due to a dramatic rise in the price of gas, which the company needs to run its oil pumps.

“The agreement that was signed between the parties nearly nine years ago is causing a great loss of money,” BOTAŞ International Limited, or BIL, Chairman İbrahim Palaz told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on the sidelines of a press meeting in Adana on Sunday.

One more gas pipeline to be built for Shah Deniz gas transportation

 

Rufat ABBASOV     News.Az

 

There is a plan to lay an additional pipeline on par with existing South Caucasus gas corridor. 

 

Existing or new infrastructure will be used to transport Azerbaijani gas produced within the framework of Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz field development, according to the report of BP-Azerbaijan for 2010.

The report says the company is currently evaluating all existing variants and defining the route meeting all demands of the concerned parties. “A negotiation export group from among the representatives of BP, SOCAR, Statoil and Total was created to negotiate with Turkish and European gas consumers”, the report says.

Earlier, the president of BP-Azerbaijan Rashid Javanshir said there is a need to expand existing transport infrastructure to ensure export of gas within the framework of the second phase of the Shah Deniz field development.