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IEA head: Turkey should reform energy market to attract investment
Turkey has made progress in electricity market reforms, but reforms in the natural gas sector have been slower, said Tanaka, who was in Ankara yesterday to make the agency’s “Energy Policies of IEA Countries -- Turkey 2009 Review” report public. “Turkey should urgently implement a revitalized package of gas market reforms to effectively unbundle the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation [BOTAŞ], in order to establish an independent gas transmission operator, ensure that recent progress in eliminating import-export restrictions is sustained and reduce BOTAŞ’s significant market share. All this would help attract investment and, in the end, ensure sufficient gas to improve gas supply security and flexibility,” said Tanaka.
Energy use per capita is still low in Turkey, he said, adding that the country will likely to see “the fastest medium to long-term growth in energy demand among IEA member countries.”
Energy use in Turkey is expected to approximately double over the next decade, he noted, stressing that electricity demand is likely to increase even faster. “Growth at this pace requires not only large investments but also measures to ensure energy security, especially in the electricity sector,” Tanaka said.
Acknowledging Turkey’s responsibility in improving global energy security as is evidenced by agreements like Nabucco, he said that such projects also strengthen Turkey’s role as a transit country, an energy corridor between its neighboring supplier regions and the European and other international markets.
Tanaka said that IEA welcomed Turkey’s targets for renewable energy resources, recalling that the country aimed to increase its renewable energy resources in electricity 30 percent by 2023.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız, also speaking at the event, noted that the 6 billion cubic meter contract signed by BOTAŞ and Russia would expire in 2011 and then be transferred to the private sector.
‘CHP unlikely to resort to court for nuclear deal’
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) announced on Wednesday that it will go to the Constitutional Court, demanding annulment of the ratification of an agreement between the Turkish and Russian governments to construct and operate a nuclear power plant in Akkuyu in the southern province of Mersin, a move which is unlikely to be carried out according to Yıldız. “I anticipate the CHP will not bring an intergovernmental agreement to the court in a bid to protect its respectability,” Yıldız said yesterday. The minister also rejected claims that the power plant will have a negative impact on tourism in the region.
Meanwhile, the minister also noted that Turkey’s talks concerning Iran’s giant South Pars gas project have failed to result in an agreement and had been cancelled.
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