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Lure of Israel's gas may dampen Turkish ire

TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 14 (UPI) — Israel is on the cusp of becoming a natural gas exporter and key energy power in the Middle East, a move that could produce significant geopolitical changes in a region beset by turmoil. That includes a new alliance with Turkey, which seems to be moving toward setting aside its political differences with the Jewish state, just as it is doing with Iraq’s oil-rich Kurds, in the interest of achieving its ambition to become the main energy broker in the region. Israel is now considering its options for exporting gas from its Tamar field, which began production March 30, and the larger but still undeveloped Leviathan field, which is due to come onstream in 2015. Between them these fields contain an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Israel has set aside 40 percent of its gas production for export, expected to earn […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq-Turkey pipeline capacity to be raised

by Bloomberg News November 10, 2013 , 6 : 21 pm SAVE THIS ARTICLE Baghdad: Work to increase the capacity of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude pipeline from Iraq to Turkey will be completed within months, according to a Turkish government official. Daily flows through the link will rise by about 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day, from the current rate of 300,000 to 400,000 barrels, when improvements to pumping station equipment in northern Iraq are complete, the official said, asking not to be identified because the issue hasn’t been publicly announced. The main northern crude export pipeline, running from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, operates at far below its designed capacity of 1.6 million barrels a day after years of disrepair amid international sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s regime and more recent sabotage attacks. Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, whose economy has boomed from oil production […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq mulls prospects for oil pipeline from Kurdish north to Turkey

ERBIL, Iraq, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Building a pipeline to carry oil from the Kurdish north of Iraq to Turkey will take longer than Kurdish officials say, a Turkish Energy Ministry spokesman said. The unidentified spokesman told the Platts energy news service in an article published Friday it’s not possible to build a oil pipeline in the time expected by Kurdish officials. Ashti Hawrami , natural resources minister for the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, said last week it would take less than two years to build a pipeline to carry 1 million barrels of oil per day from Kurdish fields through Turkey. Pipelines in northern Iraq have been the target of frequent terrorist attacks. Officials in the semiautonomous Kurdish north of Iraq blamed al-Qaida for a string of bombings in Erbil, the Kurdish capital, that left six people dead and more than 40 others injured in late September. The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Energy Needs Trump Turkey-Israel Tension

ISTANBUL—Turkey and Israel’s political divergence in the past few years is of little concern to businessmen, especially when some of the world’s largest natural gas deposits are at stake. Israel, together with Cyprus, sits on more than 120 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to U.S. Geological Survey assessments. That’s enough to meet natural gas needs for 2,400 years in energy-starved Turkey, which relies on Russia for 60% and Iran for 20% of its imports. The trick is navigating the choppy political waters. It’s a difficult proposition as Turkey-Israel ties have been at best strained for the past three years, and Ankara doesn’t even recognize the Cypriot government in Nicosia. But executives from Turkish and Israeli energy firms say their deals can allow corporations to surmount the obstacles politicians can’t overcome. If they succeed, Turkey may see a fifth of its annual natural gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Turkey raps international failure to tackle Syria aid crisis

KUWAIT (Reuters) – Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday deplored what he called an international failure to tackle the humanitarian crisis in war-ridden Syria, saying food and medicine are running out and snipers are shooting pregnant women. Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey, which has received more than 600,000 Syrian refugees, would keep its border with Syria open to people fleeing the violence but said the world needed to share the humanitarian burden. "I have to express our deep disappointment and frustration because of the absence of a proper reaction by the international community regarding the humanitarian situation on the ground," he told reporters in Kuwait during a bilateral visit. Turkey, which shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria, is a strong critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a major supporter of rebels fighting to oust him. The more than two-and-a-half-year conflict has killed over 100,000 people and displaced millions. "Those […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple