Report: Global energy axis shifts, Turkey’s star rising

The report emphasized that in this new era, in which the energy axis is moving northwards, natural gas is considered the cleanest fuel resource and the heir to oil’s throne. Deloitte also pointed out that unless the world gears up its R&D activities on improving alternative energy, even today’s oil prices of $60 a barrel will one day seem cheap.

Deloitte’s Turkey partner Sibel Çetinkaya opined that Turkey is becoming more important with each passing day in the new mapping of global energy, adding that recent energy transporting projects, like the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Nabucco pipeline projects, have multiplied this importance.

“Even if Turkey is not so rich in terms of energy resources, it is forming a bridge to important energy consuming markets such as Europe, thanks to its closeness to energy centers and its geopolitical situation. We expect Turkey, which has the vision of becoming an energy terminal, to increase this importance more in the coming period and have more sound policies in this field. Its increasing importance as a stable energy terminal will also be a factor strengthening it in international politics.”

The report informed that the major energy producers in the 20th century were in the Middle East and Russia and that North America and Western Europe were major consumers. But in the 21st century, China has become the second-largest energy consumer, and India’s demands are growing rapidly. The axis of energy-producing countries has changed as well, stretching from the Middle East to Canada, crossing Russia.

The report suggested that this new axis is not far from problems and still has its share of troubles: Iran is being threatened by the global community with deep and all-encompassing economic sanctions for its nuclear program and political disputes in other Middle Eastern countries such as the war in Iraq and Palestine.