BOTAŞ

Turkey's Şen Group has struck a deal with Gazprom to buy a 71 percent stake in the Bosphorus Gaz Corp, a natural gas distribution company, it said in a statement on June 1. 

Following approvals from energy and competition authorities, the group will assume ownership all of the gas distribution company, Turkey's first private natural gas importer. 

Turkey has transferred stakes in İzmir Port, which has been in privatization portfolio since 2007, to the Turkish Wealth Fund, in a bid to help finance giant infrastructure projects. 

The stake transfer was informed to respective authorities, according to sources. 

The wealth fund will have the authority to rent, transfer or sell the port. 

Turkey has transferred stakes worth billions of dollars in Ziraat Bank, the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange, Turkish Airlines and state-owned pipeline operator BOTAŞ, among others, to a new sovereign wealth fund, in a bid to help finance giant infrastructure projects. 

The BOTAŞ Pipeline Corporation aims to increase the daily capacity of Turkey's natural gas system to 350 million cubic meters (mcm) per day from the current 200 mcm, according to official statistics.        

Shell wants to supply Turkey with more liquefied natural gas (LNG), grow in the natural gas market and expand its cooperation with Turkey as the country has the potential to become a gas hub, according to a senior company executive. 

Turkey and Russia signed the strategic Turkish Stream gas pipeline agreement on Oct. 10.

The pipeline will carry Russian natural gas to Turkey and on to Europe under the Black Sea.

National Parliament of Azerbaijan Republic approved Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) Project on Sept. 30.

Azerbaijani Parliament discussed issues including the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey during the first meeting of the autumn.

Gazprom has said it received through diplomatic channels a survey permit for two strings of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project's offshore section in Turkish territorial waters, in a written statement on Sept. 29. 

Gazprom has received through diplomatic channels the first permits for the Turkish Stream project from the Turkish authorities after the decision to resume the project this year, it said in a written statement on Sept. 7.

A number of explosions have hit important energy pipelines in eastern and southeastern Turkey over the past month. Unless the required measures are taken to halt such attacks, they will have a devastating impact on Turkey?s strategic target of becoming a reliable energy corridor or energy hub in the future.