As our energy dependency to Russia increases

"Turkey is getting more energy dependent to Russia and this is annoying."

Birol, as one of the prominent energy experts in the world, recently visited Sabancı Holding in Istanbul. We lent him an ear.

Birol accepted an invitation from the Enerjisa Group of Sabancı Holding and came to Istanbul for a presentation of the 2008 "World Energy Outlook" prepared by Birol and his team. Birol presented the report in 30 countries before he came over to Turkey.

According to the IEA’s chief economist, attention to this report increased due to uncertainties in energy. Let’s begin with the energy demand in the world.

According to the report, the energy demand will increase 45 percent by 2030, an average of 1.6 percent increase a year. One-third of this demand will be on coal.

In the same meeting we listened to Energy Ministry Undersecretary Selahattin Çimen, who gave information about the energy demand in Turkey, ahead of Birol.

"Turkey was ranked second after China in energy demand increase between 2002 and 2007," said Çimen.

In other words, energy demand in Turkey is escalating, just like it is in China and India. This, all and all, creates a pessimistic outlook.

Let’s cut it short and inform you more.

Almost three-fourths of natural gas demand in Turkey is met by Russia. We are awfully depended on Russia in natural gas.

A recent decision reached by natural gas exporting countries to form a "Natural Gas OPEC" is like the sword of Damocles hanging over our head because as Birol stresses natural gas exporting countries will agree on a certain price and one-on-one bargaining will not be an issue from now on.

Birol keeps bringing this issue to the attention at the World Economic Forums in the Swiss town of Davos for years. And the "Natural Gas OPEC" initiative may cause serious results for Turkey, according to Birol.

"Supply security should be first," says Birol who thinks a second troublesome development is that a Russia-Turkey consortium won the tender for the first nuclear power plant in Turkey.

Being dependent on a country in natural gas and the same country’s meeting our nuclear energy need give rise to serious questions in Birol’s mind.

Nuclear concerns
But I knew for a long time that Birol is the one who believes in nuclear energy for the elimination of global warming.

At the Sabancı Holding meeting even Birol did not hesitate to express the comfort to live in a country using nuclear energy like France.

But if the issue is transforming into nuclear energy in Turkey, Birol says, "It is crucial to know which country we will work and which technology we will apply in nuclear energy."

Energy Ministry officials give importance to Birol’s views. I wonder if they will pay attention to his warnings and concerns about Russia. I wouldn’t know this.

Dependency on the "Tsar Putin" is an issue we should ponder on.

In the meantime, I want to share a news report by the French Le Monde daily on Russia and nuclear energy.

After the Chernobyl disaster, Russia is following international norms in its nuclear program. By 2025 the country will put a total of 26 nuclear energy plants into use and is ready to export nuclear technology, according to the story. At least, this is good news.