Ceyhan refinery: Turkish authority grants licence to IOC

Kolkata: The uncertainty over IndianOil’s proposed 15-million-tonne greenfield refinery in Turkey seems to be over.

According to sources, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority of Turkey has finally granted licence to IOC-Calik Holding joint venture last week for setting up the refinery at the port city of Ceyhan.

IOC-Calik — along with two other consortiums — was previously offered provisional licence for setting up the $4.9-billion refinery.

While the IOC-led consortium was going great guns and was about to launch the feasibility study, strong oil-diplomacy between Turkey and its neighbouring Azerbaijan during the last three months made Indian major’s entry into the Eurasian country uncertain.

The balance apparently tilted in favour of a consortium led by Azeri state oil company SOCAR, so much so that IOC was expecting an end to its Turkey run.

However, putting the speculations at rest, the Turkish authority finally granted the licence to IOC-Calik joint venture.

Uncertainties removed

Describing the development as a major achievement for India’s oil diplomats, a senior IOC official told Business Line: “The award of the licence has removed all uncertainties regarding our proposed investment in Turkey. We are now expecting to finalise the consortium by including more partners in the next two to three months followed by launch of the feasibility study.”KazMunayGas, the state oil company of Kazakhstan, and ENI of Italy have already expressed interest to join the IOC-led consortium.

Stake in ENI project

Interestingly, the development will also pave the way for IOC’s 12.5 per cent participation in ENI promoted Trans Anatolian Pipeline Project. The pipeline will connect the Turkish Northern Black Sea city Samsun to Ceyhan and will feed the proposed IOC’s refinery at Ceyhan.

The company made its first attempt to enter the Turkey’s refining sector in 2004 by participating in the disinvestment process of the state controlled Tupras Refinery. The attempt, however, did not succeed.

Apart from Turkey, IOC is awaiting approval from Nigeria for the last two years for setting up a refinery in the Edo state. A recent attempt is made to enter the refining sector of Egypt.