ANKARA
By Baris Saglam
The fall of oil prices is not hampering Turkish Petroleum's activities and the company will keep on working on committed projects, the head of the company said.
"The recent fall in oil prices doesn't affect Turkish Petroleum's activities immediately or directly," the Deputy Head of Turkish Petroleum, TP, Besim Sisman said, and added that "the volatility in prices will not hamper any of our planned and committed projects."
The recent fall in oil prices, which mainly occurred from an abundant supply in the market along with the deceleration in global economic growth, has seen around a 25 percent drop compared to early June prices. The free fall has pushed even the oil giants to cancel some capital-intensive unconventional and deep-sea oil exploration projects.
"The most crucial point is how long and how much the fall endures. Unless an unforeseen global economic or social development unfolds, we expect the price to even out through the natural flow in markets which depends on supply and demand equilibrium," Sisman said.
TP, a state controlled national oil company, spearheads Turkey's domestic and international exploration and production activities by cooperating with international oil companies such as Shell, Halliburton and Chevron. Turkey, with its limited natural resources, depends on energy imports and strives to diversify its energy mix.
The company in recent years has signed agreements with multinationals for exploration and production in Iraq, Azerbaijan as well as deep-sea projects in the Black Sea. The company has adopted a strategy for pursuing projects in foreign countries and is specifically focusing on Africa in line with Turkey's aspirations of obtaining soft power influence in the international arena.
"Securing the financing of big oil projects around the world will be very hard if prices keep falling," said Sisman, adding that the current prices are still not forcing producers to cut supplies.
www.aa.com.tr/en
