Turkey holds its breath for shale gas and syngas

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Turkey’s anticipation to be freed of soaring import dependency due to rising energy consumption feels more realizable as shale gas reserve searches and synthetic gas production continue

New findings are spurring hopes in Turkey’s search for new energy resources, following the energy minister’s recent announcement that indications of possible shale gas resources had been found in the Central Anatolian provinces of Ankara, Konya and Kırşehir.

Both the rising domestic gas consumption forcing import dependency and Turkey’s geographic location linking it as a supplier to international markets suggest that the discovery of major reserves could be a great relief for the Turkish economy.

Turkey has been anticipating the normalization of world energy markets, which have recently seen significant price divergences. However, in the meantime it is also seeking to benefit from the reserve potentials in its southeastern, eastern and western regions, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said during Turkey’s International Shale Oil and Gas Conference held in Ankara.

Shell has been drilling around the southeastern city of Diyarbakir for shale gas, but Turkey has also accelerated its operations in Central Anatolia.

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.