The Turkish company TPAO (Türk Petrol Anonim Ortaklığı) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) can cooperate on a project to develop natural gas fields in the Black Sea
According to Turkish media reports, Ankara, which has previously discussed potential business cooperation with Russian and Iranian companies and has contradictions with both countries on many issues, including Syria, and is also trying to reduce dependence on natural gas supplies from these countries, may target cooperation with Azerbaijan in this project.
In addition, it is more likely that Turkish companies will cooperate with companies from friendly states in such complex and expensive projects, the report said.
TPAO is already cooperating with SOCAR on projects for the development and production of oil fields in the Caspian Sea. In particular, the recently growing share of SOCAR in natural gas supplies to Turkey can easily turn into cooperation in the oil and gas sector.
TPAO may also partner with Qatar Petroleum, which has extensive experience in managing similar projects. Turkish officials have already put forward such a possibility. In March this year, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced that Ankara intends to cooperate with Malaysian, British and Qatari companies in the development of natural gas fields in the Mediterranean.
