Petroleum / Oil

Petroleum is a very complex compound with no plain formula, which consists mainly of hydrogen and carbon, and contains a small amount of nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur. Under normal conditions, it may exist gas, liquid and solid states. Liquid petroleum, which is referred to as raw petroleum in order to distinguish it from refined petroleum, is commercially the most important one. Petroleum in gas state is typically referred to as natural gas in order to distinguish it from synthetic gas. Semi-solid and solid petroleum consists of heavy hydrocarbon and tar. This type of petroleum is called asphalt, bitumen, tar and other names depending on their properties and local use. Since main components of raw petroleum and natural gas are hydrogen and carbon, they are also referred to as "Hydrocarbons."

Looking at world's existing energy sources from proven reserves and annual production amounts point of view, reserve life of petroleum is estimated as 42 years. Being the primary source of energy across the globe, petroleum meets 35,6% of the global energy demand as of 2007.

Of petroleum reserves, 100 billion tons (62%) are in Middle Eastern countries, 16,7 billion tons (10%) in Russia and the CIS, and 14,9 billion tons (9%) in Africa.

About 72% of world's producible petroleum and natural gas reserves are located in the vicinity of our country. Due to its geopolitical position, Turkey is neighbors with countries that own three fourth of world's proven petroleum and natural gas reserves, and takes part and supports numerous important projects acting as an "Energy Corridor" between the energy-rich Caspian, Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries and consumer markets in Europe. Projections suggest that a substantial part of world's energy consumption, which is expected to increase by 50% by 2030, will be met by resources from our region.

Turkey's oldest pipeline is the Iraq-Turkey Raw Petroleum Pipeline, which carries Kirkuk petroleum in Northern Iraq to the Western world. The amount of raw petroleum carried by this line reached 305 million barrels in 1999, which figure went down to 10.9 million barrels in 2006 because of sabotage and the unrest in Kirkuk. Another pipeline carrying petroleum is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Raw Petroleum Pipeline which was commissioned on May 28, 2006. While the amount of raw petroleum carried by this line is rather limited at the moment, transmission capacity of the line is expected to increase in the medium and long run.

Our potential for domestic source is 6,72 billion barrels. As of August 2008, Turkish petroleum reserves are 37,3 million tons, 2007 consumption is 31 million tons, and raw petroleum production from the beginning of petroleum prospecting activities in our country until September 2008 is 130,1 million tons.

As of the end of 2008, the installed power of our thermal power plants depending on petroleum and petroleum products is 1.973 MW, and such value corresponds to 4,8% of our total installed power.

During the 57 years of petroleum prospecting in our country, a total of 1050 prospecting pits and 1808 production, injection and development pits were opened, and 23 large and small natural gas fields and 102 petroleum fields were discovered.

Studying the production-consumption balance of world petroleum, one sees that new reserves are also being discovered in parallel to the increase in consumption. Considering high prices of petroleum, prioritizing investments for discovering and putting into use new domestic sources of hydrocarbon is crucial for our economy.

Since 2002, importance and priority is given to domestic and foreign petroleum prospection and production activities of Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO). Consequently, TPAO's prospecting and production budget was increased seven folds in 2002-2007 period, reaching 1 billion US Dollars as of 2008.

Within this framework, we will continue to give importance and priority to efforts for domestically prospecting and producing petroleum. For reducing environmental risks associated with the tanker traffic through our straits, and for making Ceyhan an energy center, it is crucial that we implement the Samsun-Ceyhan petroleum pipeline project. We will persevere on our policy to make Ceyhan the largest Eastern Mediterranean energy trade hub.

Source: Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources