MÜSİAD Energy Meeting Webinar Program

26 May 2021

Honourable Minister,

Esteemed MÜSİAD Members and Friends,

Distinguished Representatives of the Business World,

Welcome to our webinar program organized by the MÜSİAD Mining, Energy Management and Investments Committee.

Distinguished Guests,

Energy is the fundamental building block of sustainable growth and development not only in the economic field but also in the political, military and social fields. For this reason, any difficulty that may be experienced in energy supply in any one of these fields directly or indirectly affects the others.

In this respect, we may state that it is essential for a country that wishes to achieve sustainable growth and development to secure its energy security.

As MÜSİAD, we state the necessity not only of producing the energy supply with national and domestic technologies, but also of making maximum use of our own resources by obtaining energy from alternative sources such as wind, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal.

In addition, energy policies that are environmentally sensitive, security-oriented, clean and planned in line with the interests of society must be our most important goal.

It pleases us to see that the share of domestic and renewable energy fuels in Türkiye's total energy consumption has increased, so that the cost paid for energy imports in Türkiye may decrease, the current account deficit may fall and energy security may be ensured.

Our country, which ranks first among EU and OECD countries and second in the world after China in the rate of increase in energy demand, imports a large part of the oil it consumes and almost all of the natural gas.

Indeed, in the last 8-year period covering the years 2013 to 2020, we see that there has been an “energy deficit” at the level of USD 35.3 billion on annual average.

The energy bill also lies at the root of our current account deficit problem, which constitutes a structural problem for Türkiye.

The current account balance, which gave a surplus of USD 6.8 billion in 2019, points to a surplus of USD 40 billion when calculated “excluding energy”.

Likewise, in 2020, when we ran a deficit of USD 37.3 billion, this deficit falls to USD 13.1 billion when energy is left out.

In this case, we may state without any hesitation that the security of energy supply is a national issue for Türkiye.

Of course, it is gratifying that our country has been in a process in which significant progress has been made in the field of energy since the beginning of the 2000s. The very positive developments experienced in our country in terms of energy activities in 2020, when the whole world was shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic and global energy markets were adversely affected, support this process.

While electricity consumption fell considerably across Europe during the coronavirus crisis in 2020, the situation in Türkiye stood at a better level compared with many countries, and in electricity generation an all-time record was broken in terms of the use of domestic resources. In this period, the rate of domestic resource use in electricity generation in our country reached the highest level in its history, at approximately 65 percent.

For their efforts in this process, I thank first and foremost our Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Fatih Dönmez, and the esteemed bureaucrats and technocrats of our ministry for their efforts.

Again in this direction, the discovery shared under the heading of good news by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 21 August caused the agenda in Türkiye to turn all at once towards energy. The natural gas reserve, announced in the first stage at the level of 320 billion cubic metres, was revised on 17 October to a total of 405 billion cubic metres as a result of development work in the field.

With this discovery, Türkiye's total proven natural gas reserve has increased approximately 115-fold.

Therefore, this discovery has become an important source of motivation for the exploration and drilling activities to be carried out from now on. For the discovery made in the Black Sea is among the indications that a serious psychological barrier has been broken for Türkiye.

We believe that when Türkiye becomes a trade centre in the energy sector, it will not only ensure the security of its own energy supply, but will also, while supplying the energy needed by Western countries, create energy markets to which Eastern countries can export.

The National Energy and Mining Policy, put forward on the basis of a strong economy and national security, is of the utmost importance in terms of the place Türkiye will occupy in the regional and global energy market in the coming years.

We have no doubt that if the targets set out in the National Energy and Mining Policy are achieved, Türkiye will turn the advantageous position it possesses into an opportunity.

In this context, the three-month postponement of the licences that were due to expire on 30 June, for our companies at the completion stage of their investments in the field of renewable energy , will add strength to our country together with our companies in terms of the future.

On this occasion, I would like to state once again that, as MÜSİAD, we will do everything in our power in line with this goal and that we will work within the scope of the projects put forward so that these targets can be reached.

Distinguished Guests,

As I conclude my remarks here, I first of all extend my gratitude to my Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Fatih Dönmez, for his participation.

I thank everyone who contributed to the organization of this fine meeting, above all our Committee Chairman Dr.Cihat Terzioğlu, and I greet you with respect.

Abdurrahman KAAN

President of MÜSİAD