Turkey's Energy Minister Hilmi Güler said on Friday that Turkey and natural gas rich Turkmenistan agreed to review a gas agreement from 1998 which has never been implemented, in a move to balance Russia's attempt to block Turkmen deals with western countries.

�The agreement will be revised and put into effect,� Güler said in a press conference at the end of his four-day visit to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Güler's visit followed a series of agreements Russia made with both countries to secure gas and oil pipelines passing through its own territories.

According to an agreement signed on October 29, 1998 Turkmenistan promised to sell around 30 billion cubic meters natural gas to Turkey. Of this 14 billion cubic meters would be transferred to European markets via pipelines. However, the agreement could not be put into practice after Turkey's decision to buy Russian natural gas via Blue Stream pipeline.

Güler said the technical staff of the two countries would come together to revise the agreement. However, he did not give further details on the plan. �We reached an agreement on the revision of this agreement, bringing it into contemporary context.�

More electricity from Turkmenistan

Güler also informed that Turkmenistan agreed to increase the volume of electricity that it sells to Turkey from 600 million kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 1.2 billion kWh.

�As you know, this year Turkey will be a member to Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), the association of transmission system operators in Europe. Within this framework Turkmenistan can also deliver electricity to Europe. Besides being an oil and gas corridor, Turkey will also become an electricity corridor.�

Kazakhstan to build a refinery

Güler, giving information about his meetings in Kazakhstan, said the willingness of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation's (TPAO) to invest more in oil fields in Kazakhstan has been welcomed by local authorities.

Noting that they had talks with the officials from Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, Güler informed that the Kazakh officials conveyed their desire to build up an oil refining plant in Ceyhan, Turkey.

Asked whether Kazakhstan would transfer the oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, Güler replied that Kazakhs were assessing the possible routes and, at this point, Turkey was considered of major importance. Güler's response has been taken to mean that he could not get a positive response from Kazakhstan to share its oil with the BTC.


Turkey moves to balance Russia's influence in Central Asia - Turkish Daily News Jun 16, 2007

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"United we stand devided we fall" has entered the consciousness of people in many in places no one ever thaught the concept would be understood. One has litteracy to thank for that.

Turkey has always been western poodle.....

The goal of all normal political entities has been the prosperity and security of those who inhabit it. Caspian Basin Oil and routes to the sea....from the Crimean War untill the present day....someone really does not wish to see a peacefull well organized entity stretching from The Meditteranean to the Arctic Ocean...

To be honest, I hate such policies, it is all for showing to westerners how worthy Turkey is, and getting a "good boy" in return. Yes, Turkey should be more influential but interests of all parties (Russia, Turkic States and Turkey) are in further cooperation with each other. Regional states must benefit from region's richness, not others... But its not only Turkey's fault, traditionally Russia is not into cooperation but into domination...

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For over a century 'The West' has benefited from control of Latin America, Africa, South East Asia and 'The Middle East'. The prosperity and 'civilization' of 'The Western Alliance' rests largely on this control which while changing somewhat, remains pretty much in effect. While Russia has attempted to play the business game, 'The West' has gone back on certain promises and braught military bases and instability throughout the former "satellites" or as I prefer to call them 'buffer states'. A cooperative 'Eurasia, Middle East' would make certain that the resources and derived wealth of the region went to its inhabitants.

To be honest , Putin's Euroasianism doctrine and related proposals were something worths to discuss , pity that our government was too busy as licking EU azz...

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Perhaps EU coated the bait with Kurdish oil?

Putin to visit Istanbul with �substantial' energy agenda

Weeks before Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrival in İstanbul to participate in Monday's summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Russian Ambassador to Turkey Vladimir Ivanovskiy stated that Putin would be focusing on "substantial issues" such as bilateral energy cooperation between the two countries -- not matters such as the assets and liabilities of Turkish businessmen doing business with Russia.




Moscow apparently aims to use the visit as an opportunity to pave the way for a strategic bilateral cooperation in the energy field, according to Ivanovskiy's comments to Turkish businessmen during a meeting at the Foreign Economic Relations Council, and also according to senior analyst Sedat Laçiner.

�Turkey is a route indispensable for both the European Union and Russia,� Laçiner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), told Today�s Zaman.

Turkey has firmly aimed at becoming �the fourth artery of the EU,� diversifying its sources of supply to balance the flow of oil and gas from Russia, North Africa and the North Sea. The Nabucco pipeline project was launched to deliver gas from the Caspian Sea to Vienna�s Baumgarten distribution station via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, intended to reduce Europe�s dependence on Russian gas.

Meanwhile Russia recently signed a landmark deal with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan; a deal that led to certain concerns over whether it could jeopardize Turkey�s energy ambitions. The agreement between Russia�s Putin, Turkmenistan�s Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov and Kazakhstan�s Nursultan Nazarbayev will apparently strengthen Moscow�s control over Central Asia�s energy export routes -- setting back both EU and US efforts to secure alternatives to Middle East oil and gas that would be independent of Russian influence.

�While transporting the Kazakh or the Caspian oil and gas, Russia doesn�t want to be solely dependent upon Eastern European countries,� Laçiner said, giving the deal between Germany and Russia for a gas pipeline by-passing Poland through the Baltic Sea as an example.

�Moscow wants to do the same in the south with and via Turkey,� Laçiner said. When reminded of an agreement signed earlier this year between Russia, Greece and Bulgaria -- for the Burgas-Alexandoupolis oil pipeline -- he said such projects offered Russia only �temporary solutions.�

�What Russia really wants is to transport the Kazakh and Caspian oil and gas through Turkey either via tankers or by marine pipelines. Moscow eventually wants a Russia-Turkey terminal,� Laçiner said, noting that although Russia attributes vital importance to its projections of strategic energy cooperation with Turkey, it doesn�t want to reflect this enthusiasm very clearly in order to strengthen it hand for bargaining.

�What the Russian ambassador is said to have highlighted is exactly correct: This issue is much more important than Turkish businessmen�s assets and liabilities. One can sharply see this as an undeniable fact looking at figures of bilateral trade between Turkey and Russia,� he added.

�The trade deficit is at an unbelievable level, to the disadvantage of Turkey,� Laçiner reminded, referring to the fact that the balance in trade between Turkey and Russia has constantly worked against Turkey in recent years. More than 70 percent of this deficit stems from Turkey�s import of natural gas from Russia, Laçiner noted. �It�s very difficult for Turkey to cover this deficit. Thus Russia is in a way guaranteeing trade relations with Turkey. And this will gradually increase.�

Returning to Putin�s priorities, Laçiner said: �The top item on the agenda is energy, and after that, the list doesn�t have a second or third item. Whatever the next item is, compared to the priority of energy, it may only be either 25th or 26th.�

23.06.2007
EMİNE KART ANKARA

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Rather than seeing such an entity as a device for the resurgence of Empires and vengeance against The West I would hope to see it a new high tech industrial state able to bring tranquility and quality of life to all its members. For that to happen both former Empires would have to be willing to present themselves and act in a familial fashion as members of "The Eurasian Union".
Long ago, at the hight of both Empires we even dressed alike i.e. Christian Orthodox Cossack Women wore veils men carried same lances curved swords and cannon and the wars destroyed our brightest and bravest. If there is no Union, in the not to distant future, both the East and The West will come and take what they want and leave the rest to the fate and high tech weapons.