Turkey nears decision on $20bn nuclear deal

Daniel Dombey     Financial Times

Turkey is in the final stages of deciding a showpiece nuclear power tender, with the choice resting between Japan and China.

The project, expected to be worth more than $20bn, has taken longer than expected to decide, with Turkey’s insistence on financial guarantees from the contactors or their home nations proving a key point of discussion.

“The competition continues. We are still in talks with China and Japan,” said Taner Yildiz, Turkey’s energy minister. “China and Japan are keen for the project.” He added that South Korea had pulled out of the tender because of problems over a treasury guarantee. A Canadian bid had previously pulled out.

Mr Yildiz added that Turkey had told South Korea that the question of a treasury guarantee was one of Turkey’s “red lines” for the project, and that “very intensive meetings with China and Japan are approaching the end.”

Japan’s Nikkei business daily had reported earlier on Thursday that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s Areva had won the order, citing Japanese and Turkish sources.

The newspaper said the Turkish energy ministry had informed Japanese government and corporate officials of the decision to award the deal to build four pressurised water nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of about 4.5 gigawatts at Sinop on the Black Sea, the report said.

Asian bids 'closer' to winning Turkey's 2nd nuclear plant project

Project image from Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant of Turkey

Hurriyet Daily News

Asian countries are closer to winning a bid to build Turkey's second nuclear power plant near the Black Sea city of Sinop, the Turkish energy minister said on Tuesday, in a signal that Canada was no longer in the running.

"Even though we have not reached a final agreement right now, I can say that Far Eastern countries are closer" to winning the tender on the building of a second reactor, Taner Yildiz was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. Ankara is officially in negotiations with China, Japan, South Korea and Canada to build the second nuclear reactor. The government plans to build three nuclear power plants within five years in hopes of preventing a possible energy shortage and reducing dependence on foreign energy supplies.

Turkey struck a deal with Russia in 2010 to build the country's first power plant at Akkuyu in the southern Mersin province.

Yildiz said Tuesday that there was no agreement yet on the location of a third reactor but added that the town of Igneada in the Black Sea region near the Bulgarian border was one of the options.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/asian-bids-closer-to-winning-turkey-nuclear-plant-project.aspx?pageID=238&nID=37612&NewsCatID=348

China ‘has advantage’ in bid for Turkey's 2nd nuclear plant

 

 Hurriyet Daily News

A withdraw from Treasury guarantee demand and self-financing option makes China advantageous in its race with Japan, South Korea and Canada for Turkey’s second planned nuclear facility, Turkish Energy Minister Yıldız says. The winner is expected to be announced before the end of the year

As the Turkish government nears the deadline it set for itself to announce the winning company of a bid for a second nuclear plant in the Black Sea region, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said China possesses an advantage.

China brings it own financing to the project and does not demand a Treasury guarantee, which are important advantages, Yıldız said at the Caspian Forum 2012 in Istanbul  Reuters reported.

However, China is also demanding a share in the discussed facility, Yıldız said.

Canada, South Korea and Japan are also bidding for the Sinop nuclear facility plans and the ministry had earlier announced the winner would be made public by the end of this year.

Turkey’s energy dance

 
J. Berkshire Miller*    CNN

Surrounded by a sea of uncertainty, Turkey continues a sustained effort to bolster its ties with East Asia. Ankara has long established relations with the region’s key players, including China, Japan and South Korea. A historical lack of management of these key relationships, though, has led to Turkey underperforming in its attempts to brand itself in the region. At the same time, though, Turkey is facing considerable challenges and opportunities in its own geopolitical neighborhood.

The strategic topography of the Middle East remains dynamic and unpredictable, and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe risks jeopardizing Ankara’s significant interests in exporting and serving as a transit country to the continent. This region will always be Turkey’s backyard and the legacy of the Ottoman Empire allows a certain amount of exceptionalism – and sometimes isolation – when dealing with neighbors.

One area where Ankara is hoping to secure an agreement with Asia is through the development of its civil nuclear program. As Turkey’s economy and population have continued to grow, the government has remained committed to finding new energy sources to meet increased demand.

But complicating matters have been strained relations with Syria, Iran and the Kurdish region of Iraq. Nearly half of Turkey’s energy imports come in the form of gas, mainly from Russia and Iran. Gas from Iran makes up as much as 20 percent of Turkey’s total energy imports – a number that’s declining rapidly due to American pressure to isolate Tehran over its nuclear program.

South Korea revisits Turkish nuclear power plant bid

Ümit ENGINSOY       Hürriyet Daily News

South Korea has decided not to require Turkey to provide treasury loans, which was the main obstacle preventing the two sides from reaching a final deal on Turkey’s second nuclear deal two years ago, a South Korean official said May 25.

Treasury loans are guarantees to finance well-defined and time-limited business when a country cannot fund the very high costs of a project with its own resources. Turkey’s program to build a nuclear power plant in the northern province of Sinop would cost between $10 billion and $20 billion depending on whether the plant will have two or four reactors.

Turkey and South Korea came close to an agreement on Turkey’s northern nuclear plant in November 2010, but could not agree mainly because of the treasury loans issue. Turkey then launched rival talks with Japan, but these were delayed last year because of the Fukushima disaster. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials at a power plant, resulting from a very strong earthquake and tsunami.

Because of the disaster, Turkey is now engaged in competing talks with Japan, South Korea, China and Canada to build the Sinop nuclear power plant.

“Kepco is much keener about the Turkish deal than it was two years ago, when we could not reach a deal at the last moment,” the South Korean official said. “Kepco has desisted from requiring the treasury loan. It also has agreed to help Turkey find a loan in the international credit markets.”

Korea’s bid to build nuclear plant in Turkey resurrected

Limb Jae-un      Korea JoongAng Daily


Turkish minister opens door after Japan deal falls through.

It’s thought that Korea is going to get another shot at securing a $2 billion contract to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey after Japan pulled out of the deal on July 28.

During a visit to Korea last week, Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan signaled that the country is looking for alternative partners to build the plant. But the Ministry of Knowledge Economy confirmed that talk of the project was absent during Minister Choi Joong-kyung’s meeting with Caglayan.

Later, Caglayan was quoted by Turkish journalists as saying that other countries are welcome to participate in the nuclear project. The 5GW power plant will be constructed in the Black Sea region of Sinop.

The two countries have not officially resumed negotiations since Turkey chose Japan as the priority negotiating partner on Dec. 23, 2010.

Turkey may end priority talks with Japan on nuke plant-media

Reuters

Turkey may end priority talks with Japan on building its second nuclear power plant by the end of this month, a move that could lead to competition for the project with other nations including France and South Korea, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said on Tuesday.


The Turkish government has told its Japanese counterpart that it would do so unless Japan clarifies its intention to continue talks by the end of this month, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said earlier this month he expected Japan to make a proposal by the end of July to clarify the road map for a planned nuclear power plant to be built in Turkey.

Yildiz had said in March he hopes to complete talks with Japan on the plant before year-end. Ankara has been in talks with Tokyo Electric Power Co , the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima plant, and Toshiba on building a plant on the Black Sea coast.

Source:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL3E7IP3UP20110725?irpc=932