ANKARA - A visit by the prime minister to Iraq last week paved the ground for a new era between Ankara and Baghdad, setting the ground for immense energy cooperation between the two countries as various agreements were reached.
A landmark consensus to secure Turkey's rights to Iraqi oil, which grants authorization to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, or TPAO, for oil exploration, drilling and marketing, was reached in a written document signed by the Iraqi oil minister at the last minute.
A joint political declaration on the establishment of the high-level strategic cooperation council between the two countries, which underlined cooperation in the field of energy by establishing partnerships between Turkish and Iraqi companies, also fortified Ankara's prospects. Transporting Iraqi natural resources to world markets through the most viable export routes, upgrading and expanding the capacity of the existing Kerkük-Yumurtalyk oil pipeline, linking Iraki oil fields to Turkish Mediterranean city of Ceyhan and building a pipeline network to transport natural gas from Iraq to international markets via Turkey were penned as cornerstones of the new energy cooperation.
Despite the political consensus, the TPAO is not technically eligible at the moment to fulfill the Iraqi criteria of minimum 500 barrels of oil drilling per day. For the TPAO to participate in tenders for big oil fields in the south of Iraq, an international consortium is contemplated as a feasible option. "The TPAO says if we are given a fruitful field we can manage one million barrels of oil drilling. But whether the Iraqis will authorize a fruitful field is not an issue because the TPAO can work with an international consortium. For instance, we may do this with the Japanese," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkish journalists who accompanied him on the trip.
Erdogan also pointed to natural gas resources that may be found in oil fields and said new modalities for the transfer of Iraqi natural gas were also discussed. "We say the gas in the North can be transferred through a new pipeline parallel to Kerkük-Yumurtalyk. Once the gas reaches Turkey, then we can connect it to Nabucco," he said. Nabucco project aims transporting Caspian energy sources to Europe via Turkey.
Energy Minister Hilmi Güler, who accompanied Erdogan to Baghdad, further explained Turkey's proposals while speaking to reporters in Yzmir Saturday, where he attended the opening ceremony of the Yuntad Wind Plant. "The TPAO has already been working on a master plan for Iraqi natural gas in the Akkas region. But we started to renegotiate the terms with Shell due to new conditions. The first option is connecting Akkas to the Kerkük-Yumurtalyk Pipeline. The second option is connecting Akkas to Turkey via the pipeline in Syria, which is currently under construction," said Güler.
gThere are seven or eight fields, mainly in the South, that were cited as convenient areas for the TPAO by Iraqi authorities, Güler said.
Turkey to import electricity from the Gulf
Güler also noted that importing excess electricity from Gulf countries emerged as a possibility at the talks he held with his Iraqi counterpart. Emphasizing Turkey's position as the main route for natural gas and oil, Güler said Turkey could also become a bridge for electricity transfer. To this end, the working group called "Mediterranean Ring" may be extended to the Gulf countries, he added. The Mediterranean Ring is a working group of seven countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya and Syria, which is set to explore the interconnection of electricity grids in the Middle East and North Africa. The working group is scheduled to have a meeting on July 24. Meanwhile State Minister Kür_ad Tüzmen told the Anatolia news agency yesterday that if the situation in Iraq normalizes, annual trading volume between Ankara and Baghdad could reach a level of $30 billion. Tüzmen said a trade volume of $5 billion is aimed for by the end of the year, adding Turkish exporters are working very hard to meet this target despite all existing difficulties. "Even if Iraq reaches the oil production level of the pre-war era, this means oil revenue of more than $250 billion. This is a massive figure making Iraq one of the richest countries in the region. This would lead to beneficial results also for Turkey," Tüzmen said.

TDN