Panel 4 of the TAA Annual Convention was entitled Regional Energy Networks and Their Policy Implications. Moderator discussant of the panel became Dr. Michael Cain, Director of Center for the Study of Democracy at the St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Panelists were Mr. Fatih Baltaci, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Enerco Energy in Turkey, Mr. Greg Saunders, Senior Director of International Affairs at the British Petroleum, and Ambassador Ross Wilson, Director of the Dinu
Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council. There are some notes from the Panel 4 available:
Dr. Michael Cain: Energy demand in Europe and Turkey is going up. This needs to be addressed.
Mr. Fatih Baltaci: Turkey is a natural hub for energy. It acts like corridor, though. 60% percent of natural gas reserves are in the vicinity of Turkey. Turkey needs to spend $100-150 billion on energy infrastructure in the next 10 years. Europe’s energy need is huge. Shell gas in not viable. LNG is not viable. That is why Europe needs more pipelines. On the other hand, Turkey’s energy demand is growing too.
Mr. Greg Saunders: In the past, oil was the great game. Turkey played a great role in transporting oil from the region to global markets. Now the focus is on natural gas. Europe is facing a serious supply-demand gap. And the center of this dynamic is Turkey. Shahdeniz in Caspian Sea has the largest gas reserves in the world. 80% of the production is exported through Turkey. Sustainability and scalability are the key factors in energy development today.
Ambassador Ross Wilson: The transformational nature of the agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan has consequences for Turkish diplomacy and energy diplomacy. Turkey and Azerbaijan have been working on this for years now. Turkey can have a lot of leverage regarding EU accession negotiation. Another issue is Iraqi gas. Kurds in the region want to be part of it. Also, the possibility of southern gas corridor is important in the sense of opening of reserves on the other side of the Caspian Sea (Turkmenistan) to European markets. Turkey is now well positioned for good transit revenue over these. For Turkey to be an energy hub, it needs to liberalize its own energy market. Click Here
