Turkish Petroleum Corporation

Commercial activity: Memorandum of Understanding agreement signed in 2007;

Firm/country: Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO)/Turkey;

Firm activity: Development of natural gas field in South Pars phases 22-24. Total production is projected to be 35 billion cubic meters per year;

"Iran has offered to allocate two new natural gas fields in the country’s South Pars region to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) as part of efforts to strengthen ties with Turkey amid threatened UN and US sanctions over nuclear work, the Anatolia news agency quoted a TPAO official as saying Monday.Noting that technical negotiations are ongoing on joint projects in Pars, the official reiterated Turkey would not renege on a joint project with its energy ally. Iran is Turkey’s second-biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. During Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Tehran with Energy Minister Taner Yıldız last October, the two neighbors signed a number of deals to facilitate the efficient flow of gas through Turkey to Europe, including accords on allocating three of Iran’s South Pars gas fields to TPAO, allowing Iranian gas to be transported via Turkey and allowing Turkmenistan’s natural gas to be pumped to Turkey via Iran, a $3.5 billion joint development project. Turkey expects Iranian gas can help the planned Nabucco pipeline supply Europe and lessen the continent’s dependence on Russian resources. During the October visit Yıldız and his Iranian counterpart also discussed the establishment of a joint working group to study the possibilities of substituting the three less-productive fields in the South Pars region with the new ones" (Today's Zaman, "Iran Offers to Improve Energy ties with Turkey in Pars," 4/27/2010) (http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-208571-105-iran-offers-to-improve-energy-ties-with-turkey-in-pars.html)

Firm comment: Contacted on February 9, 2010; no response as of March 22, 2010.

"TPAO is already drilling deep in the Black Sea and now it plans to conquer the Middle East’s oil fields... According to the MOU signed on July 14, 2007, South Pars Field Development and Production Project, 22-23-24 Phases were reserved to TPAO with direct negotiations. Evaluations of the sites are ongoing.” (Next Generation Oil and Gas, "Eastern Promise") (http://www.ngoilgasmena.com/article/Eastern-promise/)

Status: Preliminary agreement to be finalized by February 2010;

Turkey will fund its $3.5 billion investment in Iran's giant South Pars development entirely from state-run TPAO's coffers as US opposition to business links with Tehran has deterred foreign investors, Energy Ministry officials said today. (Upstream, "TPAO goes solo with $3.5bn Pars spend," 10/3/07) (http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article141710.ece)

(GAO Report 2010, "Firms Reported in Open Sources as Having Commercial Activity in Iran’s Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Sectors") (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10515r.pdf)