Turkish Firm Tekfen Wins $2Bn Caspian Contract

Turkish oil construction company Tekfen has won a $2 billion contract to build two oil platforms in the Caspian Sea, Turkey's energy minister has announced.



Taner Yildiz said on Monday that the project had been awarded to Tekfen by the Azerbaijani government.



Yildiz said during a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce of Ankara (ATO): "This is a $2 billion investment and we are proud of it."



"Turkey is the second-largest shareholder after BP in the South Caucasus Pipeline project with a $5.2 billion investment."



He added that if a Turkish company could demonstrate that, with its technology, it can handle such a project in the Caspian, it could also construct drilling platforms and carry out oil exploration in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.



The announcement comes two day after Yildiz declared the South Caucasus Pipeline a "peace corridor" linking the Caucasus with the Balkans, at a groundbreaking ceremony in Baku on Saturday.



The South Caucasus Pipeline is the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project which will carry gas from the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Turkey and will connect to the Trans Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) via Georgia and reach Europe.



TANAP is intended to transport natural gas from the Shah Sea 2 and other fields in Azerbaijan - and possibly from other neighboring countries - through Turkey to Europe.



The initial capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor is planned to be 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas.



Tekfen, a Turkish conglomerate based in Istanbul, has many subsidiaries engaged in a diverse range of construction activities including power generation, airports, petroleum, and roadways.



Tekfen primarily operates in Turkey, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Middle East, North Africa and Europe.



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