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Turkey's expanding energy outreach and its geopolitical implications

8 November 2012, 1 - 5 PM CET

TUSIAD Avenue des Gaulois, 13, Brussels 1040



The Turkish government predicts that its energy needs will increase by an average of 10 percent each year for the next 20 years and aspires to be among the top 10 economies of the world by 2023. Yet Turkey is not blessed with energy resources to fuel its rapid growth and the country has to import more than 60 percent of the energy it consumes.  Dependence on external energy supply is heavy, particularly in natural gas (98 percent) and oil (92 percent). Energy supply security is therefore of prime importance to the country's sustainable growth and development. As a country poor in energy resources simultaneously to being one of the high growth energy markets, Turkey commands major chokepoints and transit routes for energy shipments worldwide. A key transit/terminal hub of both oil and gas to the heavy consumer nations of Europe, Turkey is a nexus of multiple important pipeline projects. It also provides access to the Bosporus Strait and the eastern Mediterranean via the Ceyhan terminal.


Not only a significant consumer in its own right, Turkey is also geographically close to 72 percent of the world's proven oil and gas resources. It is thus a natural energy hub between major oil-producing areas in Russia, the Caspian Sea basin, and the Middle East, as well as the European consumer markets. While such geographical prowess firmly positions Turkey as the "Silk Road of the 21st century", the country's international energy relations are by no means free of tensions and conflicts.


At the November 8 BREC meeting, Mehmet Öğütçü lead an interactive discussion with members and guests of the Brussels Energy Club on how Turkey's expanding energy outreach could possibly improve its energy supply security and affect its economic and geopolitical ties with Russia, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and the European Union.


Presentation:




Speakers:


Mehmet Öğütçü Chairman, Global Resources Corporation (London) Independent Non-Executive Director to the Board of Genel Energy plc and Yasar Holding Group, Chairman of Invensys plc Advisory Board, BG Group Advisor. Former Turkish diplomat, advisor to the late-Turkish Prime Minister, Turgut Ozal, IEA and OECD senior staffer in Paris. Co-founder, Brussels Energy Club



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