SOCAR seeks to enter list of top 3 industrial companies in Turkey

SOCAR intends to become one of the three largest industrial companies in Turkey by 2015, head of SOCAR-Turkey Enerji A.S. Kenan Yavuz said in an interview with Hazar World.

"The first stage of SOCAR's investments in the Turkish economy will be completed by 2016," he said.

Yavuz also stressed that the Trans-Anatolian project (TANAP), designed to transport Caspian gas to Europe, will open new opportunities for regional countries. On the other hand, even if there are any problems in further gas transportation to Europe, Turkey will be able to consume all the gas volumes delivered through TANAP.

"According to Botas's forecasts, Turkey's need for natural gas will hit 70 billion cubic meters by 2020," he said. In this case, even if there are any unforeseen problems in further gas transportation to Europe, Turkey will be able to sell all gas supplied through TANAP on the domestic market."

SOCAR partners on the Shah Deniz development project previously expressed an interest in participating in the TANAP project. According to preliminary data, the partners intend to distribute a 29 per cent share in TANAP as follows: Statoil and BP are to receive 12 per cent each and Total would get five per cent.

Presently, a 20 per cent share in TANAP belongs to Turkish BOTAS and TPAO, while 80 per cent is owned by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). SOCAR intends to retain 51 per cent of the equity in the project and Turkey will keep 20 per cent of the equity.

The TANAP project envisages a supply of gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters a year. About six billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe.

Earlier SOCAR Turkey Energy head and board member of the Petkim petrochemical complex Kenan Yavuz said that SOCAR Turkey Energy will start importing 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan from as from Jan.1, 2013.

According to Yavuz, 400-500 million cubic meters of imported gas will be used for the production at the Petkim complex, whilst the remainder will be sold on Turkey's domestic market.


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