Turkey needs better regulations for shale gas

DANILA BOCHKAREV and MEHMET ÖĞÜTÇÜ

Clearly, energy is Turkey’s vulnerable underbelly and it needs to be enhanced through new sources, including shale gas. The country is in dire need of energy supplies to fuel its rapidly growing economy – despite some difficulties Turkey’s GDP still grew 4 % to $826 billion last year.

However, the picture is not as rosy as it looks at first sight. Turkey’s balance of payments remains in red. The current account deficit increased from $49 billion in 2012 to $65 billion in 2013. This “financial gap” is mostly driven by the country’s “energy bill” – the country’s oil & gas imports alone reached $56 billion in 2013. Turkey buys from abroad up to 98 % of its demand in natural gas and up to 93 % of its oil consumption.

Ankara knows how to cope with this challenge. Drastic reduction of hydrocarbon imports is one of the three major energy goals for the decade to come. While Turkey is unlikely to become energy self-sufficient in the near future, the new sources of imported and domestically produced energy supplies are vital for sustaining the Turkish economy’s growth and competitiveness.

Domestic production – both conventional and unconventional – is, therefore, crucial for Turkey’s energy security. Unconventional hydrocarbon total reserve bases could potentially reach 5.8 trillion cubic meters in three provinces.

There is already a significant presence of foreign companies, knowledgeable on unconventional production: TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. has already drilled 31 horizontal and deviated wells, while Shell and TPAO are jointly drilling into the Dadas shale formation in eastern Turkey.

At this point, it is difficult to forecast Turkey’s shale gas “break-even price” – each of unconventional wells has de facto its own “geology” and “economics.” While shale gas might not be cheaper than Russian or Azeri imports, it might be less expensive than Iranian gas and LNG cargos and will be produced at home.

However, environmental and regulatory challenges seem to be, at present, the biggest barrier on the way to Turkey’s potential “unconventional revolution.”

Environment and water issues

The issue of water usage and water/aquifer pollution is particularly important for the unconventional gas industry. Hydraulic fracturing is a water intensive process. Certain wells require the usage of more than 10 million liters of water during their lifetime, which rarely extends longer than 5 years. The amount of water used (and wasted water produced) explains public concerns, especially in water-scarce areas.

Countries are considered water-rich if their annual per capita water consumption exceeds 10,000 cubic meters, while in Turkey this number barely reaches 1,500 cubic meters and the country just cannot afford to deal with polluted aquifers. Turkey is already facing serious problems caused by the water deficit and high soil salinity.

Turkey’s lakes’ surface continues to diminish in the face of unregulated irrigation, lack of long-term water management policy and climate change. Turkey’s alimentary sector is also heavily dependent on constant freshwater supplies and national agricultural productivity is primarily dependent upon sustainable irrigation.

Current debates in the U.S. show the water usage issue might be a particularly sensitive topic – both from a political and environmental point of view. It can affect political campaigns and change the fate of politicians. This issue, therefore, should not be neglected.

What tools are necessary to deal with the water issue? – Technology and regulations, with regulations possibly being more important than the purely technological component. The regulation of shale gas is an evolving landscape, as the industry has developed so rapidly that it has often outpaced the availability of information for regulators to develop specific guidance.

Kingdom for a series of new regulations?

In principle, Turkey has all of the necessary legislation to proceed with the unconventional hydrocarbon production. A new version of the Petroleum Law, adopted in June 2013, has raised hopes for the country’s energy sector. Indeed, a combination of the relatively low Royalty Tax (12.5 %) and Corporate Tax (20 %) create an investor-friendly fiscal regime.

However, existing legislation is missing some important points – flexible fiscal regime – similar to the fiscal incentives offered in the U.K. or the U.S. – and specific fracking disclosure laws, securing safe development of unconventional hydrocarbons.

Land-owners in Turkey – unlike in the U.S. – do not own subsurface mineral resources and are only compensated for their land. This certainly reduces the interest level of local population in shale oil and gas production. Turkey also misses a special shale gas fiscal regime, with special incentives for the companies and local communities, similar to one recently proposed by the U.K.

So far, debates on fracking in Turkey have paid little attention to the development of a separate legal framework for shale gas. More precise regulation might be necessary to establish universally acceptable and mutually beneficial “rules of the game” for the unconventional oil and gas industry.
Commercially-based unconventional oil and gas production is in principle compatible with Turkey’s two key energy priorities – security of supply and access to affordable energy supplies, but is it compatible with the country’s environmental sustainability?

All will depend on a proper application of comprehensive and environmentally-sound project management mechanisms. This process will be also impacted by the population’s willingness to pay an “environmental premium,” future development of Turkey’s national energy mix, security of supply perceptions and availability of affordable energy imports.

* Danila Bochkarev is Senior Fellow, EastWest Institute, Brussels, Mehmet Öğütçü is Executive Chair of the Bosphorus Energy Club, London/Istanbul