Shell drills deeper into Turkish fuel exploration

ISTANBUL

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser (L) shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan at a meeting in Ankara.

Royal Dutch Shell and Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO) began exploring for shale gas last week in the eastern province of Diyarbakır’s Sarıbuğday-1 natural gas field, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız announced yesterday.

Yıldız met Shell Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Voser in Ankara yesterday, along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“In the context of the partnership we embarked upon last year with TPAO, we have added exploration to our activities in Turkey. We are pleased to be searching for natural gas with TPAO, both in the Mediterranean Sea and on land,” said Voser, explaining that their seismic explorations were continuing, and that they could soon start looking at other opportunities in the country.

“It is very important that our partnership is continuing in many areas,” added Yıldız. “One such area is shale gas exploration, and the exploration in Diyarbakır is part of that agreement.”

Interested in Black Sea

He also said Turkey was interested in exploring both gas and oil in the Black Sea with Shell.
“I am confident that our huge partnership in the Mediterranean will be successful. Seismic data will be studied and then we will discuss where we can begin our work together,” Yıldız said.

Shell has been active in Turkey for 89 years and will celebrate its 90th anniversary next year, Voser said, adding that Turkey’s energy market liberalization over the past year would be an important factor contributing to the sustainability of the Turkish economy in the long run. He stressed that short-term economic and political waves would not deter Turkey from its 2023 vision and growth plans, calling Erdoğan a “visionary” and “stead-fast” leader. He said that Shell, for its part, would bring its experience and technology to the table and would be ready at the country’s service.

Meanwhile, when asked by a reporter as to whether Turkey’s natural gas distributor Botaş was selling gas at below the cost of production, and if this was one of the most important contributors to Turkey’s budget deficit, Yıldız responded: “What do you want, a price hike?”

However, he did confirm that Botaş was indeed selling natural gas at below the cost of production, confirming what Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek had recently said.