America: The Next Energy Superpower?

Anthony FENSOM*     THE DIPLOMAT

This year, the U.S. will likely surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the largest liquids fuel producer in the world.  

From previously challenging the “tyranny of oil,” newly inaugurated U.S. President Barack Obama enters his second term in office as leader of a potential oil and gas superpower.

According to BP’s Energy Outlook 2030, unconventional sources will make the United States virtually energy self-sufficient by 2030, largely thanks to the shale gas revolution.

“The U.S. will likely surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia in 2013 as the largest  liquids producer in the world (crude and biofuels) due to tight oil and biofuels growth…. Russia will likely pass Saudi Arabia for the second slot in 2013 and hold that until 2023. Saudi Arabia regains the top oil producer slot by 2027,” the London-based oil and gas giant said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast that the nation could become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as early as 2016, and a net exporter of total natural gas (including via pipelines) by 2020.

For the Asia-Pacific region, potential U.S. gas exports could undercut higher priced gas from Australia and elsewhere, resulting in lower fuel bills for major importers such as Japan and South Korea.

However, fast-growing China and India are expected to become even more reliant on imports to satisfy domestic demand, BP said in its report.

Turkey - France struggle on Africa: Turkey Reinforces 'Hands Off' Policy on Mali

Dorian JONES     VOA NEWS

ISTANBUL — The Turkish foreign ministry has criticized the ongoing French operation in Mali. The public criticism comes as Turkey is increasingly seeing West Africa as a region of interest economically and diplomatically.

Ankara has been increasing voicing concerns regarding the intervention by French forces against an Islamic insurgency in Mali.

Northern Mali fell under rebel control after a March military coup in Bamako triggered a Tuareg-led rebel offensive that seized the north and split the West African nation in two.

Turkish foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal questions the timing and whether it offers a solution to the situation.

"We wish to see the situation in Mali to change to a better perspective in the framework of the political will of its people, such as a democratic elections and a free parliament. In that sense we are also not favorable to unilateral action before trying other political methods or other avenues," said Unal.

The Turkish foreign ministry points out the United Nations Security Council resolution on Mali sanctioned only an African led intervention. Ankara's ambivalence over France's military intervention is part of a growing rivalry between Paris and Ankara over West Africa, according to Semih Idiz, a diplomatic columnist for the Turkish daily Taraf.

China, Russia, U.S. raise Mediterranean naval focus

A Chinese Submarine on Training Duty

Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent      Reuters

Egypt has seen no shortage of empires come and go, from its own ancient civilizations to those of Greece, Rome, Britain and France. Now, it is among the outposts of the latest Mediterranean power: China.


(Reuters) - PORT SAID, Egypt Situated at the northern end of the Suez Canal, the Port Said Container Terminal is one of the busiest in the region, vital for shipments not only to Egypt but also much of Europe and the Middle East.

Like several other key ports in the region - including Piraeus in Greece and Naples in Italy - it is now partially owned by China. The state-owned Cosco Pacific holds 20 percent the terminal, helping make it one of the dominant - if not the dominant - Mediterranean port operators.

Cosco stresses that it is a purely commercial venture and many analysts agree. But few doubt that Beijing has made a wider geopolitical decision to become much more involved in the region.

For the last two years, the People's Liberation Army Navy has sent one or more warships through the Suez Canal to visit southern European ports, the furthest its fleet has ever operated from home.

But China is not the only great power now increasing its involvement in the area. With Russia sending warships to positions off Syria and the United States signaling it too intends to take the region more seriously, the Mediterranean is clearly no longer seen as the strategic backwater many believed it had become.

Turkey, Greece wary of territorial waters claims

H.K. Tzanis             SETimes 

Both countries appear poised to keep discussing the potential dispute amid reports that Greece may unilaterally claim an exclusive economic zone.

Recent and highly publicised gas finds in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel and Cyprus, coupled with cash-strapped Greece's eagerness to better exploit natural resources, has thrust the question of exclusive economic zones into the spotlight.

Over the past couple years Athens and Ankara have moved to mend once tense relations despite long-entrenched opposing views on sea rights in the Aegean. But recent reports in Greek media that the country is preparing to unilaterally delimitate the zones carries the potential for friction.

Turkey's chief foreign affairs official insists, however, that the two countries have "channels" to discuss and deal with any dispute.

At the crux of Athens' standing position on maritime jurisdictions is the landmark UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, of which Greece and all EU member-states are signatories, but Turkey is not.

The convention, in force since 1994, recognises nations' rights to extend their territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) and an exclusive economic zone up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from a defined coastal baseline. To date, neither Turkey nor Greece have officially claimed an economic zone or extended their territorial waters to the full 12 miles in the Aegean.

Turkey's big thirst for new power

Photo by Osman Orsal - Reuters

Florian NEUHOF*   The National


Turkey is in a rush to grow its energy sector. And recent news that the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, known as Taqa, will invest heavily in Turkish coal-fired power plants shows how serious Ankara is taking this commitment.

The deal, announced at the start of the year, will see Taqa build and operate a power generation base totalling 7,000 megawatts, or about 10 per cent of Turkey's electricity needs by the time the plants are completed.

Turkey's energy minister, Taner Yildiz, is keen to emphasise that efforts will be taken to minimise the environmental impact of the country's power sector.

The plants will be fed with lignite, a soft brown coal reviled by environmentalists for the emissions its use entails. Lignite is found in Turkey's soil and offers some relief in the complicated task of securing hydrocarbons from abroad.

Turkey is dependent on imports for 91 per cent of its oil and 98 per cent of its natural gas and it relies heavily on Iran and Russia for its supplies. It is therefore keen to push the share of electricity produced from gas from about 50 per cent to less than 30 per cent in the next decade and to diversify its hydrocarbon sources.
Turkey has reluctantly complied with United States and European Union demands to reduce imports from Iran as part of a new round of sanctions, but its dependence on Iranian supply has meant it has refused to cut economic ties with the country.

Turkey and Africa

İbrahim KALIN*        TZ 

Turkey’s Africa opening initiative launched in 2005 gained new momentum this week with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s three-country visit to Africa.
Traveling to Gabon, Niger and Senegal with a large group of Turkish businessmen, Erdoğan stressed Africa’s strategic importance for Turkey. This is a result of the ongoing diversification of Turkey’s foreign policy. But it is also a testament to Africa’s rising significance in the 21st century. Turkey is no stranger to Africa. It has a long history of relations with countries stretching from North Africa to the Sahel region. In a quiet but steady way, Turkey is again establishing strong relations with Africa. High-level visits, diplomatic relations, investment and trade, cultural and educational programs, scholarships and the work of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA), and Turkish NGOs have changed the old parameters of relations between Turkey and the African continent.

Turkey turns to coal to loosen Iran, Russia gas reliance

John McGarrity       Reuters

• Turkey relies to 70 pct on imports to meet energy demand

• Booming population need more electricity

• Domestic lignite to boost power production, reduce import needs

LONDON, (Reuters) - Turkey is turning to its own coal, worried about dependence on pricier gas from Iran and Russia, after a deal with a UAE company which will boost its coal-fired power capacity by two thirds.

Its biggest gas supplier is Russia's Gazprom, which accounts for around half of imports, but it is long-term supply from Iran that could pose the biggest concerns. Turkey might not be able to continue to ignore further tightening of international sanctions aimed at curtailing the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

Gas imports have also been disrupted as a result of attacks on Iranian and Azeri import pipelines by Kurdish separatists.

"In public, Turkey has tried to show it won't bow to U.S. pressure, but even if can still buy Iranian gas, it's unlikely to be able to increase imports from a country that is subject to strict embargoes," said Alex Jackson, an analyst with political risk consultants Menas Associates.

Iran supplies around 16 percent of Turkey's gas needs, followed by 15 percent from Azerbaijan, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) figures.

Ankara has signed a $12 billion deal with Abu Dhabi's TAQA to mine lignite coal and build up to 8,000 megawatt (MW) of new power plants by 2020.

Turkey’s Energy Challenges

Daniel WAGNER* & Giorgio CAFIERO**      CounterPunch

Ankara will soon be confronted with some difficult foreign policy decisions that could affect its long-term energy interests. The discovery of vast reserves of natural gas off the coasts of Cyprus and Israel could oblige Turkey to resolve longstanding disputes with its neighbours.

Turkey has managed to maintain impressive growth rates over the past decade in spite of a lack of indigenous sources of energy. Ankara has pursued a foreign policy aimed at diversifying the country’s energy imports while simultaneously positioning itself as a major energy hub. Turkey’s geostrategic position makes achieving this dual objective challenging, but it has managed to strike a balance between being assertive and deferential in acquiring and managing its energy supply. While the Turkish government’s power to influence events in the region is of course limited, it will be compelled to make some difficult foreign policy decisions in the near term that could substantially impact its long-term energy interests.

Turkey imports 91 percent of its oil and 98 percent of its natural gas. In 2011, approximately 51 percent of its oil came from Iran and 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia. Iraq’s resurrection as a major oil and gas exporter to the world offers Turkey an opportunity to become an increasingly influential energy hub between the Arabian Gulf and European markets. However, the tense triangular relationship between Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government has greatly complicated the energy trade with Iraq. This has also cast doubt about the long-term reliability of the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline that exports nearly 400,000 barrels per day to the important port of Ceyhan in southern Turkey. Turkey’s perennial battle with Kurdish separatists has served to ensure that the relationship with Iraq remains problematic and uncertain.

Turkey sees promise in pivoting north

Black Sea Countries and transportation routes on the map

Catherine Stupp    Christian Science Monitor

With its attempts to join the EU stalled and its leadership role in the Middle East marred by Syria's conflict, Turkey is turning its attention to a less tumultuous border – the Black Sea.

Istanbul, Turkey - Its protracted bid to join the European Union remains stalled and its "zero problems" policy in the Middle East is cracking over support for Syria's opposition. But one foreign policy front retains promise for Turkey: the Black Sea. 

Nowhere is it more evident than the busy industrial city of Trabzon in northeastern Turkey, a regional trade hub because of its location on roads that connect it to both Istanbul and other cities to the east. The cobblestone streets of the city center are bustling with buses and private cars carrying passengers to Georgia, only 125 miles to the northeast, as well as trucks shipping goods across the region via the highway that cuts through the city.

If plans for a highway connecting the 12 countries bordering the Black Sea go forward, Trabzon's growth – and Turkey's growing stance as a regional leader – is poised to surge.

Turkey’s Black Sea coast, far from its tumultuous southern border, offers a promising contrast its more troubled efforts to join the EU and to expand networks in the Middle East. Ankara has emerged as the dominant initiator of regional cooperation, institutionalized by the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), which was founded on the heels of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Filling the Soviet vacuum

Although Turkey was one of 10 founding members, it played a leading role in BSEC's establishment, and the organization's permanent headquarters is still located in Istanbul.

Turkey, UAE sign deal for $12 billion Energy deal

Afşin - Elbistan power plant

Hurriyet Daily News

The Turkish and United Arab Emirates governments agree to jointly develop Turkey’s large coal fields in the south for power generation. The $12 billion deal may help Turkey diversify its supply. 

Energy-hungry Turkey has signed a landmark deal with the United Arab Emirates to develop its coal fields in the south with a giant project worth nearly $12 billion.

The deal between the Abu Dhabi-based, government-controlled TAQA and Turkey’s state-run electricity company EÜAŞ was a crucial, according to Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız.

“This is the second-biggest investment made in Turkey after the two nuclear power plant projects,” Agence France-Presse quoted the minister as saying.

The parties foresee the generation of some 85 million tons of coal annually, or 45 billion kWh every year. Some 15,000 people will be recruited during the construction phase and the facilities will provide jobs for 8,500 once finished, officials said.