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Bombings in Syria Force Wave of Civilians to Flee

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians have fled rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo in recent weeks under heavy aerial bombardment by the Syrian government, emptying whole neighborhoods and creating what aid workers say is one of the largest refugee flows of the entire civil war. The displaced, as many as 500,000 to date, the United Nations says, have flooded the countryside, swelling populations in war-battered communities that are already short on space and food and pushing a new wave of refugees into Turkey , where in interviews many have described a harrowing journey that left them in desperate condition, broke, hungry and, in many cases, sick or wounded. Much of the human tide flowing out of northern Syria has crashed on this once-quiet border town, where Syrians now nearly outnumber the original […]

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Turkey stays on sidelines of Iran’s energy sector

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said he’s ready to listen if Iran comes forward with new energy investment proposals, but nothing is in the works. Turkey and Iran signed preliminary arrangements in 2007 and 2008 for development of Iran’s giant offshore South Pars natural gas field. Yildiz said Wednesday state-owned Turkey Petroleum Corp., known by its Turkish initials TPAO, was staying on the sidelines for now. "If Iran wants to make a new proposal with new conditions we will look at it," he was quoted by the Platts energy news website as saying. "But as it stands at the moment there has been no decision for TPAO to invest in Iran." Both sides in the past had considered building a 1,100-mile pipeline that would carry South Pars natural gas through Turkey to European consumers, a long-time ambition for Iran. Yildiz was quoted by […]

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Turkey stays on sidelines of Iran's energy sector

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said he’s ready to listen if Iran comes forward with new energy investment proposals, but nothing is in the works. Turkey and Iran signed preliminary arrangements in 2007 and 2008 for development of Iran’s giant offshore South Pars natural gas field. Yildiz said Wednesday state-owned Turkey Petroleum Corp., known by its Turkish initials TPAO, was staying on the sidelines for now. "If Iran wants to make a new proposal with new conditions we will look at it," he was quoted by the Platts energy news website as saying. "But as it stands at the moment there has been no decision for TPAO to invest in Iran." Both sides in the past had considered building a 1,100-mile pipeline that would carry South Pars natural gas through Turkey to European consumers, a long-time ambition for Iran. Yildiz was quoted by […]

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Turkish government decides against TPAO investment in Iranian energy sector

he Turkish government has decided that state-owned upstream oil and gas operator TPAO will not undertake any investment in Iran, energy minister Taner Yildiz told a press conference Wednesday. Yildiz said the possibility of investment had been discussed during meetings with Iranian officials held during an official visit he made to Tehran with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on January 28-29. However, Yildiz said that having looked at the feasibility of TPAO investing in Iran’s South Pars gas field, a decision has been taken not to do so. "If Iran wants to make a new proposal with new conditions we will look at it," he said. "But as it stands at the moment there has been no decision for TPAO to invest in Iran." Article continues below… Request a free trial of: International Gas Report International Gas Report International Gas Report is a biweekly […]

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Turkey finds oil near Iran, Iraq border

A state-run oil company in Turkey said Tuesday it discovered oil while working in what it described as tough conditions near the borders with Iraq and Iran. State-run Turkey Petroleum Co., known by its Turkish initials TPAO, said it discovered oil while working in Sirnak province near the southern border with Iraq and Iran. Gokhan Akin, a regional TPAO director, was quoted by Turkish newspaper Hurriyet as saying the discovery was made in tough geological conditions. “The oil at the well is at the value of the neighboring country’s [Iraq] oil but the test studies for the daily capacity will be completed within this week,” he said Tuesday. The company offered no estimate of the reserve potential at the Caliskan-1 well, which it started exploring six months ago. TPAO said this is its first discovery of so-called high gravity oil in the region. […]

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Iraq Controls Kurdish Oil Exports Under New Accord, Luaibi Says

Iraq ’s self-ruling Kurds agreed to let the central government in Baghdad control the amount and quality of crude they export as well as manage revenue from its sale, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said. The Kurdistan Regional Government will export oil using a metering system operated by the Oil Ministry in Baghdad, Luaibi told a news conference yesterday in Vienna. The Kurds also agreed to put money earned from the sale of oil from Kurdish fields into a UN-administered account for Iraq’s earnings from crude, he said. The agreement may herald an end to years of confrontation between Iraq’s Kurds and the central government. It may lead to a formal accord this month under which Kurdish authorities resume oil shipments via Iraq’s government-run export pipeline to neighboring Turkey , Luaibi said. The KRG halted the flow last December in a dispute with the central government over how […]

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Yildiz meets Shahristani in effort to mend ties

Yildiz meets Shahristani in effort to mend ties Turkey is trying to repair relations with Iraq’s central government, days after defying Baghdad and signing agreements to solidify its energy alliance with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz met with Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani, Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi, and other Iraqi officials for more than two hours in Baghdad on Sunday. When they emerged, Yildiz and Shahristani struck a conciliatory tone.”The meeting was p… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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Turkey, Kurdistan cement massive energy deal

Turkey has signed multiple agreements that flesh out its energy alliance with Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, despite last-ditch efforts by Baghdad and Washington to forestall the deal.In a Nov. 27 meeting in Ankara between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, the two sides signed documents to govern export pipelines, the sale of gas, and the handling of revenue, according to two people involved in the negot… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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Exclusive: Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan ink landmark energy contracts

Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package this week that will help transform the semi-autonomous region into an oil and gas powerhouse but infuriate the central government in Baghdad. The move follows months of negotiations and was learned from sources close to the deal on Friday after being kept secret. Baghdad says any independent Kurdish oil exports are illegal and that it has the sole authority to manage Iraqi oil. For energy-hungry Turkey, dependent on imports for almost all of its needs, exploiting Iraqi Kurdistan’s rich hydrocarbon resources will help diversify its energy supplies and reduce the country’s ballooning $60 billion energy bill. Ankara’s close partnership with Iraqi Kurds is historic and to many, marks the beginning of a new era, given the decades-long fight with Kurdish militants on Turkish soil that has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The deal came in the early […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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