Azerbaijan gives green light to gas
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Begüm Gürsoy- Referans
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 23, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s growing natural gas need is forcing the government to look for ways to receive more gas through international agreements. Although negotiations continue about Nabucco, Turkish officials say Azerbaijan agreed to feed Turkey 4 billion cubic meters of gas after 2013
Just a short time after the prime minister’s recent visit to Baku, Azerbaijan is looking favorably on Turkey’s plans to import 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan’s newly discovered Şahdeniz field.
The gas from the field, which will become operational in 2013, will be used to satisfy Turkey’s domestic natural gas needs.
The good news came during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent Baku visit. However, talks stagnated on the issue as to what the two countries’ interests would be in the transit passage of the Azerbaijani gas within the Nabucco pipeline’s framework. Technical talks with Azerbaijan will continue in Ankara, but Azerbaijan has not yet set a date for a visit to Ankara.
Negotiations not over
The Phase-2 field in Azerbaijan’s Şahdeniz area will produce 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas after it becomes functional in 2013. This gas is important in terms of supply security and resource variety for both Europe and Turkey.
Negotiations continue for 5 billion cubic meters of Şahdeniz gas to be fed into the Nabucco pipeline and 4 billion cubic meters to be shipped to Turkey for its domestic needs.
Azerbaijanis see the amount Turkey is asking for its domestic needs as favorable. On the other hand, no developments have been achieved in the talks for the amount asked for Nabucco. The talks on the subjects are said to be stuck on the details of the transit passage.
Meanwhile, the Turkish state-run pipeline company, BOTAŞ, which promotes the idea of earning money for transit transportation, has not given up on its stance that Turkey should receive a 15 percent discount on the price of natural gas that will be used for Turkey’s domestic use. Officials from the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said that even though Turkey has not given up on this discount percentage, it does not mean it would not and that this was an issue for negotiations. They added it could be reevaluated according to profits.
Although it is not yet clear whether Azerbaijani gas will feed the Nabucco pipeline, the process gained momentum due to developments in northern Iraq. The natural gas that the Turkish Türkerler Group will carry to Turkey in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi-based Dana Gas became a new hope for the Nabucco.
There will be no obstacles left for the importation license of northern Iraq gas once the central government approves it. Meanwhile, the U.S. administration also favors the marketing of northern Iraq gas through Turkey to Europe.
Under this framework, after the inter-governmental agreement is signed, a Nabucco "national company" will be established in each country that is a signatory of Nabucco. Officials at the Ministry of Energy said BOTAŞ could be charged with this responsibility instead of forming a separate company.
Nabucco can be extended
The same officials said the base capacity of the Nabucco pipeline would be 25.5 to 31 billion cubic meters and that the project will be initiated at the Turkey-Georgia border. If the Turkmen natural gas is also fed into Nabucco, the pipeline could be extended to Azerbaijan, they added. They said a new pipeline would not be needed to feed the Azerbaijani gas into the Nabucco pipeline but that the capacity of the existing pipeline between Turkey and Azerbaijan would be enough.
Russian news agency Novosti reported Turkey’s gas requirement would increase exponentially after 2015. This has rendered the Blue Stream-2 pipeline an "urgent necessity" for Turkey, added the report. It read that Russia put forward "serious arguments" regarding the new natural gas pipeline project to Europe, Turkey and the Middle East
The gas from the field, which will become operational in 2013, will be used to satisfy Turkey’s domestic natural gas needs.
The good news came during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent Baku visit. However, talks stagnated on the issue as to what the two countries’ interests would be in the transit passage of the Azerbaijani gas within the Nabucco pipeline’s framework. Technical talks with Azerbaijan will continue in Ankara, but Azerbaijan has not yet set a date for a visit to Ankara.
Negotiations not over
The Phase-2 field in Azerbaijan’s Şahdeniz area will produce 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas after it becomes functional in 2013. This gas is important in terms of supply security and resource variety for both Europe and Turkey.
Negotiations continue for 5 billion cubic meters of Şahdeniz gas to be fed into the Nabucco pipeline and 4 billion cubic meters to be shipped to Turkey for its domestic needs.
Azerbaijanis see the amount Turkey is asking for its domestic needs as favorable. On the other hand, no developments have been achieved in the talks for the amount asked for Nabucco. The talks on the subjects are said to be stuck on the details of the transit passage.
Meanwhile, the Turkish state-run pipeline company, BOTAŞ, which promotes the idea of earning money for transit transportation, has not given up on its stance that Turkey should receive a 15 percent discount on the price of natural gas that will be used for Turkey’s domestic use. Officials from the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said that even though Turkey has not given up on this discount percentage, it does not mean it would not and that this was an issue for negotiations. They added it could be reevaluated according to profits.
Although it is not yet clear whether Azerbaijani gas will feed the Nabucco pipeline, the process gained momentum due to developments in northern Iraq. The natural gas that the Turkish Türkerler Group will carry to Turkey in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi-based Dana Gas became a new hope for the Nabucco.
There will be no obstacles left for the importation license of northern Iraq gas once the central government approves it. Meanwhile, the U.S. administration also favors the marketing of northern Iraq gas through Turkey to Europe.
Under this framework, after the inter-governmental agreement is signed, a Nabucco "national company" will be established in each country that is a signatory of Nabucco. Officials at the Ministry of Energy said BOTAŞ could be charged with this responsibility instead of forming a separate company.
Nabucco can be extended
The same officials said the base capacity of the Nabucco pipeline would be 25.5 to 31 billion cubic meters and that the project will be initiated at the Turkey-Georgia border. If the Turkmen natural gas is also fed into Nabucco, the pipeline could be extended to Azerbaijan, they added. They said a new pipeline would not be needed to feed the Azerbaijani gas into the Nabucco pipeline but that the capacity of the existing pipeline between Turkey and Azerbaijan would be enough.
Russian news agency Novosti reported Turkey’s gas requirement would increase exponentially after 2015. This has rendered the Blue Stream-2 pipeline an "urgent necessity" for Turkey, added the report. It read that Russia put forward "serious arguments" regarding the new natural gas pipeline project to Europe, Turkey and the Middle East