Itera concludes gas supply deal with Turkish Erdal Aksoy
The international energy company Itera has reportedly concluded a gas supply deal with Erdal Aksoy, a Turkish
businessman. The deal calls for Itera to send Russian natural gas to a power plant that Aksoy is building in Hopa, a
town located about 20 km from the Georgian border on Turkey's Black Sea coast.
Itera is reportedly ready to send up to 1 bn cmpy of gas to the 500-MW Hopa plant, which will supply electricity to a
region that formerly imported power from neighbouring Georgia. (Volumes may later rise to 5 bn cmpy if other
customers in the region want Russian gas, Itera has said.)This deal does not directly involve Gazprom, Russia's
natural gas monopoly. The gas to be delivered by Itera to Hopa would be separate from the volumes shipped to Turkey
via Ukraine and -- after 2001 -- through the Blue Stream pipeline.
Indeed, Aksoy indicated that Itera wants to build its own pipeline. This link would run along a 60- to 70 km route
from the Georgian town of Kobuleti to the power plant, he said.
He stated that he had decided to cut the deal with Itera because that company was the only one to give the guarantees
for gas supplies needed to secure a bank loan. It will cost around $ 500 mm, he said, to build the new pipeline and
finish the power plant, which has been under construction for five years.
The pipeline would take about a year to build, he said. Aksoy also remarked that he was willing to work with Itera
even though it was clear that the company, which is registered in the United States but operates mostly in Russia and
the CIS, had close ties to Gazprom.
