Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend
The crisis in Iraq will negatively affect Turkey's economy, as it is an oil importer, Turkish TRT Haber TV channel quoted the country's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Taner Yildiz as saying on June 19.
The minister underscored that the Iraqi crisis can cause an oil shortage in Turkey, but the latter doesn't intend to increase the import volume.
Turkey reduced the oil import volume by 4.6 percent in January -April, 2014, compared to the same period of 2013, a message posted on the website of the country's Energy Market Regulatory Authority said. Iran accounts for 18 percent of Turkey's oil import, Russia - 14 percent, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia - 11 percent each, Iraq - 10 percent, India - 7 percent, Greece - 6 percent etc.
In total, Turkey imported 18.554 million tonnes of crude oil in 2013. Turkey satisfies around 90 percent of its oil demand from foreign resources and crude oil imports are expected to double over the next decade.
Iraq accounted for around 21.4 percent of Turkey's total oil import, Iran - 15.3 percent, Russia - 14.2 percent and the remaining 49.1 percent fell to Saudi Arabia, Libya, Greece and Nigeria.
On June 10, the militants of the 'Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant' group (ISIL), supported by the banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party [the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party], captured the administrative center of the Mosul in the northern Iraqi Province of Ninawa, a number of small settlements, as well as part of the Salah al Din Province, including its center - the city of Tikrit.
The ISIL militants took control over the Iraqi town of Tal Afar on June 16.
Edited by CN