Turkey’s Koc Holding Energy Group, which already competes with world giants in the oil refinery sector, is not afraid of the competitive challenge from new refinery companies in Turkey, the company’s top official said in a recent exclusive interview with The Anadolu Agency.
Koc Holding, which ranks among the world’s top 350 companies, partly owns Turkey’s largest industrial enterprise, Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation, TUPRAS.
As the sole controller of Turkey’s refining capacity, TUPRAS has an annual processing capacity of 28.1 million tons of crude oil.
"Koc Holding Energy Group made TUPRAS one of the most advanced oil refineries in the world," Erol Memioglu, the head of Koc Holding Energy Group said.
"We invested $5.2 billion in the refinery sector during the last nine years," said Omer Koc, the head of TUPRAS board said in December.
Memioglu pointed out that despite the perception that TUPRAS operates as a monopoly in Turkey's refinery sector, he explained that it in fact it has to compete with world giants including Shell and BP.
"Turkey has a liberal oil market. If the companies think TUPRAS is overpricing its refinery products, they can import their goods from any other global refining company," Memioglu said.
An investigation was launched in July 2012 to determine whether TUPRAS, Turkey's sole petroleum refiner, and oil distributor OPET abused their dominant position in the Turkish market during the 2008 world financial crisis through exploitative and exclusionary behavior.
"TUPRAS must have competitive prices in order to be chosen over its international rivals," Memioglu said, adding that, "Therefore we fully support the potential new refinery companies in Turkey, so that this perception of monopoly can end."
- Low oil prices
In response to the question on the company increasing profits from the slump in oil prices, Memioglu said oil prices did not have direct effects on refinery products but seasonality and demand had a bigger impact.
"The decrease in oil prices will have positive effects on Turkey’s budget deficit. However refined oil products are also bound to the changes in currency," Memioglu said.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Saturday that Turkey would reduce its inflation rate to 5-6 percent due to the decline in oil prices in 2015.
Oil prices have fallen almost 60 percent in the last seven months, their sharpest drop since 2008, due to oversupply and low oil demand in world markets.
By Nihan Cabbaroglu & E. Gurkan Abay
Anadolu Agency