OMV sells Turkish CCGT to Bilgin Enerji

Austrian oil and gas firm OMV has agreed to sell its 890MW gas-fired power plant in Turkey to the local firm Bilgin Enerji.

OMV expects to close the deal by the fourth quarter in 2018 after approval by Turkey's competition watchdog, the company said.

Bilgin's installed power capacity will reach 1760MW with the purchase and the gas-fired unit will help the company to balance its renewable portfolio, Bilgin chief executive Tolga Bilgin said.

Bilgin has 477MW of hydropower capacity along with 370MW of wind capacity. Bilgin Enerji owns a 15pc share in London-listed Genel Energy, which is active in oil and gas. Genel owns stakes in two natural gas fields in north Iraq.

OMV's decision to sell its generator comes as the increase in gas tariffs and weaker power prices in euro terms has pressured the profitability of gas-fired units in Turkey. The outlook for regulated gas tariffs rose in recent weeks as the lira fell to fresh lows against the dollar and crude prices gained. The weaker profitability outlook stalled most gas-fired projects as none of the firms with generation licences for gas units above 200MW of capacity started construction. Only a couple of gas-fired projects had completed preparatory processes as of January 2018, the regulator EPDK reports showed.

OMV will remain in the Turkish market with its energy sales and trading businesses. The 890MW Samsun plant started operations in 2013.

Turkish day-ahead delivery €/MWh