After a medium break, I want to write a bit about Energy. Particularly about Oil & Gas.
The Turkish state is involved in Upstream and Midstream.
The state company TPAO is drilling and searching for oil, and state company BOTAS is laying all pipelines within the country.
TPAO would have been one of the biggest companies around in this region, would the "free-market" State philosophy would not have split TPAO.
During the decades, there were 17 new companies found out of the core mass of TPAO and 16 of them privatized.
From gas stations to refineries all was taken out of TPAO. The 17th company is BOTAS, but is still in the hands of the state. And it seems that TPAO and BOTAS will fusion.
Turkey 'eyes energy flagship'
Turkey 'eyes energy flagship' - Upstreamonline
Also TPAO has announced to vertically expand in the sector again by establishing gas stations and refineries. As in Turkey gas prices are very high this is a good idea as here you can earn very much.
Turkey's oil consumption is about 700.000 barrels/day. Of this TPAO supplies only about 105.000 Barrels (70.000 Barrels of internal production in Turkey, 35.000 in other countries).
There are University studies etc. saying that only about 40% of Turkish territory have been explored for oil, but about that i will not talk, as the hopes in domestic oil & gas finds are in the seas around us. Mainly the Black Sea and Mediterenean.
According to the CEO of TPAO, TPAO has indications that in the middle part of Turkish Black Sea soverignity area are around 10 Billion Barrels of oil.
But while expanding operations abroad offers the chance to broaden operations, the ace up TPAO's sleeve is closer to home: a major oil find off Turkey's Black Sea coast.
"Seismic surveys have indicated reserves of around 10bn barrels," Mr Uysal says with a smile.
The find is reckoned to stretch from the central Black Sea region as far as the Georgian border.
"We're planning to drill the first well in 2010 and to have reached full production some time after 2015."
TPAO aims to exploit the find in partnership with Petrobras of Brazil, with which it has a five-year exploration agreement for two blocks on Turkey's western Black Sea coast.
FT.com / Companies / Energy Utilities Mining - Turkish group looks south
THE BLACK SEA OIL FIELDS MAY MAKE TURKEY ENERGY INDEPENDENT
THE BLACK SEA OIL FIELDS MAY MAKE TURKEY ENERGY INDEPENDENT - Eurasia Daily Monitor
The area where the oilfield is laying is marked in the follwing map as TPAO-BR-JV. It is in the middle. BR stands for Petrobras from Brazil, the most specialiced oil drilling company in offshore terms.
The CEO of TPAO says, that drilling will start in 2010, and in 2015 the oilfield in this block of Black Sea will provide half of Turkey's oil demand. And in 2023, the 100th aniversary of Turkish Repulic, the oilfield will produce total demand of Turkish consumption.
As you can see in the above map, there are still areas of Turkish Black Sea, were TPAO has no partnership and is not drilling. There will follow another licencing rounds to take on board International Companies to explore and exploit those areas.
According to TPAO Chevron and EXXON are interested to drill with TPAO in some areas of Black Sea.
The president of TPAO said that energy companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil also have expressed an interest in drilling in the Back Sea.
THE BLACK SEA OIL FIELDS MAY MAKE TURKEY ENERGY INDEPENDENT - Eurasia Daily Monitor
So the logic says, where Oil is is also gas, and where those 2 are, there is a high potential that there will be discovered more. More so, if Romania already produces oil in Black Sea and Ukraine has also found oil reserves in Black Sea.
What does this mean beside energy security for Turkey? First, money stays within the country which would have gone outside for oil imports. As Turkey is free-market economy, it is the private economy which imports the oil.
Exponentially rising and in 2015 reaching capability to supply half of private companies oil demand, Turkish private companies will now pay the oil money to TPAO. TPAO is State company. So State has a new income source. Which Turkish State did not have before, but reached a far more point than Countries around us who earned money with oil for decades.
Also Turkey is already a refinery heavyweight in the region, exporting gasoline to Iraq, Iran and others around us. This capacity will be extended and this will transform in political weight.
The president of the state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) said that “between 2007 and 2012, $87 billion is planned to be invested in the petroleum industry”
THE BLACK SEA OIL FIELDS MAY MAKE TURKEY ENERGY INDEPENDENT - Eurasia Daily Monitor
From aspect of Turkish GDP, there is a sector waiting to explode and contribute to GDP expansion. And after all Turkish state has more money to spent. Good to hear, that Turkey produces now also its indigenious Oil & Gas searching ships. With the prototype have cost 100 Million $.
Petrol arama gemisi yapýlacak
Before these ships, we had to take the services of foreign companies for these activities.
Such as
Schlumberger announced today that Turkish state oil company Turkiye Petrolleri A.O. (TPAO) has contracted WesternGeco to conduct the largest high-specification Q-Marine* 3D exploration surveys ever undertaken in the Black Sea.
http://www.westerngeco.com/content/about/press_releases/2006/news_08022006.asp