Turkey may become an energy exporter in next 10 years: Minister

ANKARA

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Turkey may become an energy exporter in a decade’s time, Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak has said. 

“Turkey, which spends $50 billion in energy and mineral imports every year, may turn into an energy exporter in the next 10 years,” Albayrak said Feb. 22 in a ceremony in Ankara to mark the 15th anniversary of the founding of sector regulator Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK), an event held by the Association of Energy Experts. 

“We aim at bringing energy to the public with better quality and price. Beyond that, a big Turkey should now be an actor in a wider picture that has a say in energy, which is an important raw material today, in regional and global means. We need to build this,” he said.  

Turkey produces 49.3 percent of its power needs from local resources, he said, stressing on the importance of local and renewable resources. 

“In the next 10 years, we need to increase the share of domestic resources in electricity generation to at least two-thirds. We have to carry this ratio to over 50 percent. We will all work together shoulder to shoulder. From now on, we will look for more resources, and we will do the regulations and the open ground for the investors, being supportive in a triple win-win outlook.  We will produce nuclear power and domestic coal. We need to develop resources with richer calorific values. Turkey is importing 50 billion dollars of energy every year, for energy, will start paying less,” he added. 

“This will upset some, annoy them and push them to try different ways. We have been experiencing this for the last three or four years,” he said, adding that some “certain countries” were behind terrorist organizations such as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ). 

“We also see those who agree with these views. We will not take them seriously,” he said. 

Albayrak spoke before he headed to Azerbaijan, a leading energy partner for Turkey, on Feb. 23. 

Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev welcomed Albayrak ahead of a ministerial meeting on the Southern Gas Corridor project in the country’s capital, Baku. 

Azerbaijan aims to finalize the Southern Gas Corridor by 2020. The project includes the South Caucasus Pipeline, Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).    
  
The TANAP project aims to bring natural gas, produced in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II gas field and other areas of the Caspian Sea, primarily to Turkey, but also to Europe via the TAP.