Turkey declares oil refinery as special industrial zone - YENI SAFAK / ANADOLU AGENCY

October 20, 2018  11:14 

A presidential decree has declared a newly-opened oil refinery in western Izmir province as the first special industrial zone in Turkey, the Industry and Technology Ministry said Saturday.

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said in a statement that the oil refinery will reduce Turkey's foreign trade deficit annually by $1.5 billion.

"The STAR refinery is the biggest real sector investment made at a time in Turkey," he said.

He stressed on the importance of petrochemical investments in terms of high value-added production, employment opportunities and balance of payments.

Azerbaijan president: gas pipeline to EU will not be stopped - CLIMATE HOME

11/04/2017, 9:47am
Karl Mathiesen

Environmental protests against the $46bn Southern Gas Corridor are baseless, says Ilham Aliyev, who expects to begin exporting gas through the pipeline by 2018

A massive pipeline linking Azerbaijan’s gas fields to the networks of Europe is an inevitability, Azeri president Ilham Aliyev has told his cabinet.

“The implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor is already a reality. True, there are those who want to prevent us. It is natural. We came across these ten years ago,” said Aliyev, as reported by the Azerbaijan Press Agency on Tuesday.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the world’s largest fossil fuel projects, with a projected construction cost of $46bn.

Azerbaijan’s Lost Transparency - CARNEGIE EUROPE

March 20, 2017

Thomas de Waal

Azerbaijan’s suspension from a coalition of energy-extracting countries will harm Baku’s international brand and image as a reliable place to invest.

Can a petrostate with a rent-seeking elite ever reform itself—or at least clean up its business practices?

That the answer could be “yes” was the idea that drove the founders of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in 2003. The initiative is a voluntary coalition of countries with energy- and mineral-extraction industries that pledge to make their transactions and sources of wealth transparent. The project took off and won support from international financing organizations, and at the start of 2017, the EITI had 51 implementing member countries.

As of March 9, it has one less. Azerbaijan, the Caspian petrostate on the eastern edge of Europe, announced it was quitting EITI after being suspended from the organization. The announcement came just as the groundwork was being completed for an expanded network of three pipelines scheduled to take Azerbaijani gas to European markets by 2020.

Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council prioritizes TANAP - ANADOLU AGENCY / DAILY SABAH

BAKU, 24.2.2017

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak attended the third ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council in Azerbaijan, where he was welcomed by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

In addition to cooperation in the energy sector, the meeting addressed the Southern Gas Corridor, consisting of the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will transport Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe.

President Aliyev stressed the importance of Turkey's high-level representation in the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council in the admission at the Haydar Aliyev Center in Baku.

TANAP Pipeline Gas Transportation Capacity Fully Contracted - SPUTNIK NEWS

updated 13:29 18.10.2016

Gas for transportation via the TANAP pipeline has already been contracted, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev told Sputnik.

The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will not face competition from other regional energy projects as gas for transportation via the pipeline has already been contracted, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev told Sputnik. 

"The volumes of gas that will be transported in the first stage along the entire length of the project, have already been contracted, they have already been sold. We have signed contracts for the increase in production, which will start in 2018 and should reach its peak in 2020-2021. Therefore, no other regional energy projects can compete with it, because we have already sold this gas," the president told Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency’s Director General Dmitry Kiselev in an interview.

TANAP is a major part of the Southern Gas Corridor that will connect the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan with Europe. The corridor will run from Azerbaijan to Turkey, through Greece, Albania, and deep under the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

EU energy security tops discussions at World Congress in Istanbul - AZER NEWS

11 October 2016 15:32

By Nigar Abbasova

Relations of Turkey and Azerbaijan, which are determined by historical, cultural, ethnic and religious connections, are gaining even more momentum due to mutually beneficial and successful cooperation of the two countries in the energy sector.

The 23rd World Energy Congress, grandiose event of colossal importance that brought together more than 10,000 top world leaders in the field of energy, became an additional evidence of the fact that successful cooperation between the countries may become a guarantee of energy security in a whole Europe.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the congress said that energy projects, jointly implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey are of great significance for the world, mentioning that the role of the two countries in the issue of energy security can not be overestimated. The president emphasized that today the Southern Gas Corridor is among the largest energy projects all over the world.