Turkey has turned into a significant bridge between producers and consumers of energy and may already be called a country with significant oil products reserves, reportedly said Hilmi Guler, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.
В"In its time, BTC project was also called unrealizable, but it is already in operation and first tanker with oil has gone log agoВ", - Minister said, adding that alongside BTC, significant role will be playing Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline that enables unloading straits Bosporus and Dardanelles.
Minister said during the last 3 years oil transpiration through Turkish straits rose by 50 %, thus jeopardizing Istanbul. В"Ceyhan region today is Turkeys most significant project and it shall be told of to the entire world. Ceyhan is about to become a new RotterdamВ", - Guler underlined, saying that official Ankara alongside oil project is examining those on gas.
В"NABUCCO project covers gas transportation through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to AustriaВ", - Minister said. He reminded that following famous power crisis in Ukraine, Turkey's significance as transit country has risen much.
Alongside BTC, we have Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline that will be continued to Greece and Italy. The agreement on this project has been signed already. This winter Turkey starts supplying gas to Greece.
В"Gas storage in subsurface tanks is quite important. We already perform operations in this fieldВ", - he said. В"Our Oil Company operates in the markets of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and EgyptВ", - Guler concluded.