Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler has stated that an American oil company has put in a request with his ministry to perform oil exploration in the Black Sea.

Speaking to the press on Saturday during his visit to İzmir for the opening of the Yuntdağı Wind Energy Power Plant (RES), Güler said Turkey’s oil exploration will begin in the Black Sea in 2009, adding that the aim is to find a good source very quickly as the cost of oil drilling is very high both on land and offshore.

In response to a question over whether there had been any new requests for oil exploration in the Black Sea, Güler said an American company had applied, adding that his ministry will examine the application and respond to it in the coming days. However, the minister declined to give the name of the company. Currently, American firm Toreador is searching for oil in the Black Sea with Canadian Stratic Energy in cooperation with the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO).

Güler said the potential of clean energy sources such as solar and wind cannot be developed because of the lack of investments, adding that the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry places great importance on clean and renewable energy. “Imagine a time when we have no water in our dams, when we don’t have any wind to produce energy and we don’t have any natural gas or its prices have hit extreme highs. This will be the time for nuclear energy,” he stated.

Güler noted that Turkey is not a country that has little knowledge about nuclear power, noting that in fact Turkey has well-developed infrastructure for this purpose. “We do not view nuclear power in the same way our neighbors do. We are looking at it as something that is going to be there when we need it. We are developing it consciously. We are doing this because we need to do it, not just for the sake of having it,” he said.

‘We want to be an energy corridor for electricity’

Responding to a question about his latest trip to Iraq with Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Güler stated: “We talked in Iraq about transfer of the extra electricity in the Gulf countries to the West via Turkey. Of course this was just brainstorming. As Turkey wants to become an energy corridor of natural gas and oil, it will also become an energy corridor for electricity.”

Turkey is looking into a system in which Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon would have interconnected electricity lines. The minister said this system may well be put into place in the future, adding that this topic was discussed during the meeting with the Iraqi energy minister, with a related meeting about this specific issue set for July 24 in Amman.

Güler noted that previously Turkey was not included on Iraq’s list of the 35 countries that will be able to explore for oil in Iraq, adding that thanks to initiatives at the level of the Prime Ministry and the TPAO Turkey will be able to search for oil in Iraq. He stated that TPAO was invited by Iraq to perform oil exploration in southern Iraq, noting that this is a promising development. The TPAO is expected to explore in seven or eight different regions of Iraq.

Güler said Turkey would privatize its electricity production facilities after completing privatization of its electricity distribution system, adding that the related privatization model was ready and that studies will begin after the Electricity Market Law is approved by the president. According to the minister the model proposes a capacity increase of the current power plants and their renewal in order to increase efficiency. The privatizations will begin with thermal power plants and the revenues from these privatizations will be expended on constructing energy infrastructure in Turkey.
source: Today’s Zaman