High energy bills, national security, and diplomacy

With the cooling of the weather and the opening of schools, we will witness in the coming days that natural gas bills will burn our pockets even more. We need to focus more on how prepared our country is regarding a subject like energy, which is both the lifeblood of the economy and directly related to foreign policy, geography, and geopolitical tensions. 

As is known, the subject of energy is primarily a matter of economics, politics, security, and foreign policy. When energy is discussed, international relations, strategy, and geopolitics are naturally and inevitably discussed alongside industry, production, development, and investment. This is because there is a direct relationship between a state's energy policy and its economy, politics, and foreign policy. That is why soldiers, diplomats, and intelligence officers, along with economists and politicians, ponder heavily on the political economy of energy. Fossil fuels, the technologies used in their extraction, processing, opening to markets, and delivery to consumers, renewable energy sources, and the rapidly developing technologies related to them are among the subjects that not only energy experts but also economists, politicians, soldiers, and diplomats are most interested in. 

The following aspects are very important in terms of energy: exploration, production, transportation, refining, distribution, and marketing. All of these elements must be handled with a holistic approach. In this context, the state and future of energy markets are discussed. Energy routes are discussed. The financing of energy investments is discussed. The regulation, management, and law of energy markets are discussed. The technologies used in the energy sector are discussed. The management of energy projects is discussed. Investments in the energy sector, investment priorities, and strategies are discussed. There are, of course, other topics discussed as well. This list is long… 

Turkey's foreign dependency in energy is high. The dependency rate exceeds 90 percent for oil and natural gas. It should be recalled that the three richest countries in the world in terms of natural gas reserves are Russia, Iran, and Qatar. Turkey has good relations with all three. Turkey receives high amounts of natural gas from Russia and Iran, and low amounts (as LNG) from Qatar.

Unfortunately, the rate of loss and theft in energy transmission in Turkey is also high. Turkey is also unable to benefit efficiently from domestic energy sources and renewable energy sources. However, using these resources more efficiently would both reduce foreign dependency, even if not completely, and lower the current account deficit. For example, although Turkey is lucky and advantageous in wind energy, it cannot utilize this sufficiently. Experts calculate that if the necessary investment is made in this field, Turkey could provide at least 10 percent of its energy needs from wind energy. 

The influence of domestic and foreign energy lobbies is high in determining Turkey's energy policy. Being highly dependent on natural gas for energy, and on Russia for natural gas, and as if this were not enough, the fact that our country's first nuclear power plant is being built by the Russians in Mersin Akkuyu has increased Russia's weight in Turkey's energy supply. This, of course, means that Russia's influence over Turkey's economy and politics is also consolidated. Therefore, it is essential to ensure diversity both in the energy source consumed and in terms of the supplier country.