Energy

Now ranked the world’s 17th biggest economy with a GDP of nearly $790bn, Turkey, the prime minister claims, will become the 10th largest in 10 years’ time. To fuel that kind of growth, the country needs energy. Situated between the hydrocarbons-rich Middle East and energy-hungry Europe, but with negligible reserves of its own, Turkey has long been viewed as a transit state. While that continues to be part of its strategy, the nation is also hunting for resources to power its own economy, whether it is domestic supplies like coal or renewable energy, oil and gas extracted in foreign fields or new pipeline agreements to ship in fuel. It is also investing in hydroelectric plants, and plans to have eight nuclear reactors on-line by 2022. This chapter contains interviews with Hasan Köktaş, President, Energy Market Regulatory Authority; Rövnag Abdullayev, President, SOCAR; Gülsüm Azerı, CEO, OMV Turkey; and Alexander Medvedev, Director-General of Gazprom Export.