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Gakhramanov, head of Socar Turkey Enerji, was cited as saying by Reuters on May 31 at the annual Caspian Oil and Gas conference in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. Citigroup and JP Morgan will be listing consultants, while McKinsey will help with “technical and financial optimisation”, Gakhramanov said, adding that Socar’s STAR oil refinery on Turkey’s Aegean coast had reached its full processing capacity of 10mn tonnes per year in May and was expected to process 7mn tonnes by the end of this year. Feedstock products from the refinery are sent to Turkish petrochemical maker Petkim, also controlled by Socar, with oil products going to the Turkish domestic market and export markets. Gakhramanov was also reported as saying that STAR would import Siberian light crude and oil from Iraq’s Basra in June.
Russian energy major Gazprom expects its first gas delivery through the TurkStream pipeline at the end of December this year, its deputy CEO Oleg Aksyutin told reporters on May 14. “The offshore section is clearly ready. The onshore part is 100% ready from the Russian side, and roughly 73.5%- ready from the Turkish side. The pipeline will be ready for testing in November,” he added. The TurkStream natural gas pipeline has a total annual capacity of 31.5bn cubic metres. The first line will carry half that amount to Turkish consumers. The second line is expected to carry the second half to consumers in Europe via a route through Bulgaria. The project appears to be running smoothly but ties between Ankara and Moscow could become complicated if Turkey adheres to requests from Washington not to buy the Russian S-400 advanced missile defence system. So far, Ankara has stubbornly insisted it is going ahead with the purchase despite objections from fellow Nato members. Russia and Turkey are also working on joint energy projects such as the Akkuyu nuclear plant in Turkey.
Analysts cite Turkish economic woes as Gazprom’s Q1 gas exports to Turkey fall to lowest in 9 years. Gazprom’s gas exports to Turkey fell 43% y/y to 4.5bcm in the first quarter of this year, chalking up the lowest volume seen since 2010, Kommersant has reported. “We believe that the drop in demand for Gazprom’s gas in Turkey was likely driven by the economic turmoil in the country and continuing deprecation of the Turkish lira (it lost 41% YoY in 1Q19), which raises the local currency price of imported gas,” Dmitry Loukashov, an analyst at VTB Capital, said in a note. He added: “In addition, Gazprom’s gas is currently more expensive than spot LNG, as its price is linked to the price of a basket of oil products. We believe that this significant reduction in demand implies a risk that the first line of the TurkStream gas pipeline, which has 15.75bcm of capacity intended for gas supply to Turkey and is slated to be commissioned at the end of this year, might not be fully utilised given that in addition to TurkStream some 16bcm might be delivered to Turkey via the direct Blue Stream pipeline.” As a result of the decline in importing Russian gas, Turkey lost its position as the second largest importer of Gazprom’s gas to Italy, VTB said. June last year saw the launch of the branch of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) that transports natural gas from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz-2 gas field in the Caspian Sea and nearby fields to Turkey. TANAP, built at a cost of $8.5bn, is to deliver 6bcm of gas to Turkey and, once additional infrastructure has been completed, 10bcm to Europe annually.
9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
● Ford Otosan
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