by E. Gurkan Abay and Ata Ufuk Seker
ANKARA
Liberalization is the main solution Turkey needs to maintain investors' interest in its energy market, Batu Aksoy, the head of Turkey’s Energy Traders Association and CEO of Turcas Petrol, has said.
Aksoy told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview on Thursday that Turkey will need $120 billion worth of investment over the next 10 years, but Turkish companies did not possess such equity capital.
He said: “Turkey needs foreign investors to fulfill this amount of investments and in order to attract foreign investors, the Turkish government needs to pave the way for private sector players in Turkey’s energy sector.”
Aksoy underlined that market liberalization was the main solution to the lack of capital.
He went on: "Liberalization means that the government needs to withdraw from its dominant role as the main player in Turkey’s energy sector.
"Apart from keeping some strategic assets, Turkey’s energy watchdog - the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) and Ministry of Energy - needs to be in the market as only regulator and decision maker for Turkey's regional energy strategy."
- Bargaining power
Pointing out that 80 percent of the world’s hydrocarbon reserves are located around Turkey, Aksoy said that, in order to maintain Turkey’s energy security, as well as increase its bargaining power in its energy imports, the resources must come to Turkey via pipelines.
“We closely follow the political situation in Iraq and East Mediterranean and are very keen to bring natural gas resources to Turkey in this region,” he said.
Aksoy underlined his company would not act politically in the region.
According to the American Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iraq has 3.1 trillion cubic meters of known natural gas reserves - the world's 11th biggest proven natural gas reserves.
But problems with infrastructure and bureaucracy have meant that Iraq is not able to produce 1 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
While the Leviathan gas field off the coast of Israel is a major gas hub in the region, it has only recently been discovered.
The reserves hold nearly 600 billion cubic meters of gas.
www.aa.com.tr/en
