Turkey Invites Azeris to Consider Joint Deals

Turkey has offered an opportunity to explore offshore oil and gas reserves off its Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar).

“Azerbaijan can search for oil and natural gas in our waters,” Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız said after meeting Socar's president, Rövnag Abdullayev, last week, quoted in Turkish Weekly.

Yıldız said Ankara would partner with Socar in a similar arrangement to those with international oil firms exploring for gas in Turkish seas. These deals are structured so that any resources found are shared between the firm and the Turkish state, but if nothing is found, all expenses are borne by the private company

Ankara suggests exploration with Socar near its southern provinces of Iskenderun, Mersin and Antalya. The minister also raised the possibility of joint projects with Azerbaijan in third countries.

Abdullayev said the company was evaluating the Turkish offer and that it would make a decision by the end of this year at the latest. The two countries are already co-operating in planning the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP).

Turkey is currently disputing the right of the government of Cyprus to develop its new found Aphrodite gas field. However both  Turkey and Israel are assessing the possibility of gas from fields on the Israeli side of the Israel-Cyprus maritime boundary gas reaching Turkey.