SOCAR Turkey CEO: the country’s natural gas costs to drop

Ankara, June 25 - Neftegaz.RU. The statements come at a time when Turkey’s long-term pipeline gas contracts are being renewed, including the one with Azerbaijan.
Acknowledging that Turkey will sit at the table with a stronger hand, Gahramanov said that the price decrease in natural gas depends on many variables, Daily Sabah reported.
Gahramanov said:

• The most effective factor is the increase in supply and the diversification of resources and supply opportunities
• We expect the natural gas cost of Turkey to decrease with the increase and diversification of domestic and renewable resources

While some of Turkey's contracts with the countries that it imports natural gas from will expire soon, finding its own reserves in the Black Sea that have now reached 540 billion m³ was already dubbed a groundbreaking development that will be an advantage when striking new deals with Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran.
Gahramanov continued:

• Just like the discovery of reserves in the Black Sea, the commissioning of new reserves will increase the supply and strengthen Turkey's hand
• All of these are factors that can affect the price change in favor of the consumer
• However it is not possible to make short-term price predictions as the pandemic conditions continue

Gahramanov also spoke about the new investment the company took in 2018 to establish the 2^nd Petkim, a petrochemical giant in Turkey and subsidiary of SOCAR, but which was ultimately delayed.
He said:

• We were planning to establish a new petrochemical plant with BP in order to bring the 2^nd Petkim to Turkey with a total of $2 billion investment
• However, when BP decided to exit the petrochemical business, we had to postpone this investment for now
• We are also negotiating with other companies for investment
• the decision for this new investment will be taken in 2022

Gahramanov stated that they aim to complete the additional investments they have started to increase the operational capability of the STAR Refinery in Izmir province by 2022:

• We continue our storage investment of $600 million,
• With the completion of our projects in this area, the investment value of STAR Refinery will reach approximately $7 billion

SOCAR Turkey has made a total investment of $19.5 billion to date, becoming the largest foreign investor in Turkey.