Türkiye is interested in offshore gas fields in Egypt to supply hydrocarbon via Turkish Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) vessels, Türkiye's energy and natural resources minister has said.
In an interview on Wednesday, Alparslan Bayraktar pointed to normalised relations between Türkiye and Egypt and recalled that the two countries recently signed energy deals.
He also invited countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to invest in renewable energy projects in the country.
“We will put forward more concrete projects related to these countries,” he added.
“There is a new long-term LNG agreement that we signed with Shell a short while ago and a new long-term LNG agreement that we will sign in the US next week,” Bayraktar said.
“These are the diversification dimensions of the business."
Türkiye long view on oil and gas
Noting that Türkiye has petroleum assets abroad, Bayraktar said that in Azerbaijan, Ankara has a partnership in oil and natural gas resources in the Caspian Sea. “Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli is a big oil project that we have been a partner for a long time."
“We have about 20 percent partnership shares in the Shah Deniz project (in Azerbaijan),” he said, adding that Türkiye has a partnership in three oil fields in Basra, Iraq.
“We have 15,000 barrels of oil revenue per day from there,” he explained.
Noting that Iraq exports over 3 million barrels of oil per day, Bayraktar said: “15,000 barrels is very small. Türkiye needs to get a bigger share from here.”
“We need to be more active, more intense and more active in oil and natural gas fields,” he added.
Role in energy transportation
The Turkish minister also said that Ankara could have a bigger role in oil trade and transportation.
The Turkish part of the old Kirkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline, from Silopi to Ceyhan, is 650-kilometer (404-mile) long with a capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd), he said.
“That’s why we say to our interlocutors in Iraq, especially after the last visit of our President (Recep Tayyip Erdogan), 'let's turn this Development Road there into an energy road’."
Bayraktar said that Türkiye’s electricity export capacity with Iraq is 300 megawatts and this could increase.
He said that Türkiye’s daily need for 1 million barrels of oil and around 800,000-850,000 barrels of natural gas as oil equivalent can be met from these projects.
“We are carrying out intensive work and diplomacy to meet this need, perhaps through projects in Libya, projects in Somalia, and new projects in Iraq,” he said.
Equipment delay for nuclear power plant
Noting that the construction of Türkiye’s first nuclear power reactor has been completed by more than 90 percent, Bayraktar said: “There are difficulties we face due to the nature of nuclear. Unfortunately, there are also difficulties arising from external sources.”
Bayraktar said that Siemens is delaying the delivery of equipment for the nuclear power plant.
“The equipment is used at the construction site, which provides the transmission of electricity. Unfortunately, it has the effect of slowing down construction."
“There is a decision taken with such a political attitude on an issue that has no legal basis and is not subject to any international sanctions,” he said, adding: “The issue was raised at the highest level.”
Noting that the company should definitely “pay a price," Bayraktar said: "Especially a company that has such a strong presence in the Turkish market.”
“So, if the aim here is to impose sanctions on Russia, Türkiye is also seriously affected by this,” he said.
Nuclear energy plays an important role in reaching Türkiye's 2053 net zero emission target. To this end, the country is planning to build nuclear power plants in two other locations after the first plant at Akkuyu, which is under construction in the Mediterranean province of Mersin.
An intergovernmental agreement was signed between Russia and Türkiye in May 2010 for Akkuyu nuclear power plant that will consist of four VVER-1200 power units with a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts. The foundation for the plant was laid in 2018 and it is expected to be finished in seven years, according to the contract.
