Development of Natural Gas Trading Center (Hub) / Exchange Launching Meeting

On 24 December 2013, PETFORM and DİVİD hosted a launch meeting held at the Ankara Sheraton Hotel to share the results of the study on the report titled "Development of Turkey Natural Gas Trade Base (Hub) / Stock Exchange" within the framework of services received from Accenture Consulting with the contributions of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority. In addition to PETFORM and DİVİD members, sector stakeholders such as the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Energy Market Regulatory Authority, BOTAŞ and Borsa Istanbul have also made important contributions in the formation of the report, which is the result of an extensive study period of approximately 7 months. At a meeting of high level public and private sector representatives, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Murat Mercan and Chairman of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority. Hasan Köktaş and members of the press were present.

In the opening speech, President of PETFORM Mr Orhan Duran stated that the work towards liberalization of the market should be continued and the private sector representatives should be included in the top management of the company by attaching the natural gas market to the EPIAŞ, which is planned to be established, after summarizing the development process of the Turkish Natural Gas Market in the last 10 years. In addition, it is emphasized that a large-scale consensus has been reached on the problems of the market and the solutions of these problems in the light of the studies carried out in the private sector and the public partnership. Mr Duran also stated that the current transmission infrastructure of BOTAŞ has a capacity of 200 million cubic meters / day, but the demand is much higher than this figure and that new investments are absolutely necessary for the development of the existing capacity.

In his speech Energy Market Regulatory Authority President Mr Hasan Köktaş emphasized that they were continuing to work on the establishment of EPİAŞ at full speed and that the natural gas market was trying to construct a structure under EPİAS that could work synchronously with the electricity market. In this context, Mr Köktaş emphasized that they attach great importance to this work and believe that it must be passed on.

After Mr Köktaş, Mr. Murat Mercan stated that the regulations to be realized in the natural gas sector, which is a dynamic sector, are being evaluated by sector stakeholders and that they take into account the sensitivities of the sector. Mr. Mercan also pointed out that he dreamed of establishing a market structure in Turkey where he could change the natural gas supplier by his choice from his home computer, and he emphasized that it is necessary to continue working together as a public and private sector to achieve this goal.

After the conversations, Project Manager from Accenture , Mr Bora Tokyay made a presentation on the report and shared a road map of the steps to be taken after listening to the current steps of the Turkish market in the light of European examples and suggestions for solutions after taking a present photograph of the Turkish Natural Gas Market.

After the questions of the members of the press were answered, the photo meeting with the family photo was concluded.