Energy sector needs experienced traders

ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News

HDN photo

Turkey needs to increase the number of experienced traders in the business to make use of the regional opportunities, according to Mehmet Doğan, an energy and gas professional.

“There is not a second country in the world which has a lot of energy projects like Turkey,” Doğan told the Hürriyet Daily News in a recent interview.

“Turkey is the only country to be an energy hub in the energy. However we need to increase the number of experienced traders.”

The owner of gazday.com, a Turkey-based web site which provides fresh energy sector data in three languages -Turkish, English and Russian- for subscribers also said Turkey might face serious problems in natural gas supply during the 2012-2013 winter.

“The amount of imported natural gas does not meet the need for domestic consumption. The main reason behind this is that too much gas is used in houses for heating during winter. As a result, especially in the electricity sector, companies which made natural gas deals see a damage” Doğan said.

“If Botaş (Turkey’s state run pipeline company) extends the deal with Russia we will be getting 51 billion cubic meters natural gas next winter, and the consumption is calculated at 49 billion cubic meters. However the daily usage generally doubles in the winter, therefore 51 billion cubic meters will not be enough at all.”

Doğan added that natural gas storages had to be built in Turkey in order to avoid such gas shortages.
He also mentioned that Turkey’s geopolitical location is very suitable in order to turn Turkey into an “energy hub”, however the country was lagging behind in technical infrastructure.