Turkey's role in providing diversity for European gas users is
arguably more important than that for oil, believes Emre Engur,
deputy head of business development at Turkey's state-owned oil and
gas giant
Botas. "I think that the
natural gas business will be the driving force for Turkey on the way
to becoming an energy bridge," Engur says.
"Turkey is carrying out all the necessary steps to function as a
real gas hub in the region,"
-- Emre Engur, Botas
The EU is expected to be almost 70% dependent on imported gas by
2020 and it is estimated that 15% of its gas imports will be
supplied through Turkey by then. "Turkey is carrying out all the
necessary steps to function as a real gas hub in the region," Engur
said.
Gas consumption in Turkey itself has grown sharply since the
1980s with the signing of the first sales and purchase agreement in
1986 with Russia's Gazexport. Imported gas sales started at about
500 million cu m in 1987 and had reached 26.6 Bcm by last year.
Now, it stands to act as a gateway for the transport of Caspian,
Middle East and north African gas en route to gas-hungry European
markets.
The most advanced project is the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
gas pipeline, which runs
from the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan via Georgia to
Turkey and is expected to be operational by the final quarter of
2006. In an initial stage, 2 Bcm will be transported through the
link, reaching 6.6 Bcm in the plateau period, Engur says.
The completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum project will also
enable Botas to conclude a supply deal with Turkmenistan, Engur
hopes. "Our agreement with Turkmenistan to take 16 Bcm of gas to
Turkey and an additional 14 Bcm for European demand is pending for
the moment depending on some points beyond our control, but we
strongly believe that with the completion of the Azerbaijan project
and opening of the route from the
Caspian, Turkmenistan gas
will follow," he said.
Turkey does not want to be just a channel for gas from these two
countries, though. "We are not limiting our targets with natural gas
to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan only, although particular priority
has been attached to the Caspian Sea region. We are also taking into
consideration gas to be produced in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Iran and
even Kazakhstan," Engur says.
In February, an agreement was signed by Turkish energy minister
Hilmi Guler and Egyptian energy minister Sameh Fahmy, which
envisaged building a gas pipeline from Syria to Turkey and setting
up a Turkish-Egyptian joint venture company, Tergas, to market the
gas to European countries.
The agreement provides for the supply of 2-4 billion cu m/year of
Egyptian gas to Turkey with a further 4-6 billion cu m/year being
transited on to Europe. Initial plans are for the first gas to
arrive in Turkey in 2008.
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