ISTANBUL 

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 said on Wednesday.

In an interview with Anadolu's Editor's Desk in the capital Ankara, Alparslan Bayraktar pointed to normalized relations between Türkiye and Egypt, and recalled that the two countries recently signed deals on energy.

Last week, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited Türkiye’s capital Ankara.
Bayraktar said that Türkiye and Egypt can cooperate on oil and natural gas and are working on projects.

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,” he explained.

Türkiye needs to be more active in oil and natural gas fields

Noting that Türkiye has 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,” he added.

“We have about 20% partnership share 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.

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 added.

“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’,” he added.

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.

Siemens delays delivery of key equipment for Türkiye's 1st nuclear power plant

Noting that the construction of Türkiye’s first nuclear power reactor has been completed by more than 90%, 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 has key equipment related to the nuclear power plant and the German company delays the delivery of it.

“The equipment is used at the construction site, which provides the transmission of electricity. Unfortunately, it has the effect of slowing down construction,” he added.

“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 added.

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.