Tatneft will refuel in Turkey – Newspaper Kommersant No. 60 (7505) dated 04/07/2023

Tatneft is preparing to enter the Turkish retail fuel market by agreeing to acquire Aytemiz Akaryakit, which includes about 570 filling stations. This company is owned by the Aitemiz family and the Dogan Holding investment company. The purchase of Aytemiz will cost Tatneft $320 million. The Russian oil company has already approved the opening of a representative office in Turkey. In addition to it, from Russian companies, LUKOIL has owned a large network of filling stations in Turkey since 2008. Against the backdrop of Western sanctions, Russian oil companies are seeking to increase their presence in the markets of “friendly” states.

Tatneft acquires 100% in the Turkish fuel company Aytemiz Akaryakit for $320 million. This follows from the message of the Dogan Holding investment holding, which owns 50% in Aytemiz. The rest of the stake is owned by the Aitemiz family. The deal with Dogan will be closed upon receipt of regulatory approvals. The Aytemiz network includes about 570 gas stations in different regions of Turkey, ranking seventh in the Turkish market at the end of 2022. In February, Tatneft’s board of directors approved the opening of a representative office in Turkey. Tatneft’s main retail business is located in Russia. The company owns 774 filling stations in the Russian Federation, 18 in Belarus, and three in Uzbekistan. Tatneft declined to comment.

Dogan acquired its stake in Aytemiz in March 2015 for 152 million Turkish liras (about $58 million) and made a capital injection of 127 million Turkish liras ($48 million) into the company. As a result, by the end of 2015, the number of filling stations increased by more than a third, to 416 stations. Aytemiz Akaryakit itself was founded in 2009, the Aytemiz family started the oil products business in the 1960s. Aytemiz Akaryakit’s revenue for 2022 was 29.7 billion Turkish liras ($1.6 billion at the exchange rate at the end of 2022), gross profit was 1.3 billion liras (about $72 million). One of the largest Turkish investment holdings, Dogan, founded by Turkish businessman Aydin Dogan in 1980, includes assets in the fuel business, renewable energy, and car distribution.

Russian oil companies are now actively exploring assets in oil refining and fuel retail in “friendly” countries in order to offset a significant discount in the export of fuel and oil from the Russian Federation, which was formed due to Western sanctions against the Russian Federation due to the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine.

After the EU countries reduced the purchase of oil and oil products from the Russian Federation, Turkey significantly increased their imports.

Tatneft itself is not under sanctions. According to the results of 2022, the oil company increased oil production by 4.6%, to 29.1 million tons. The oil company’s revenue increased by 18%, to 1.4 trillion rubles, net profit – by 43%, to 284.6 billion rubles. The amount of the transaction will not have a significant impact on the company’s debt load, Renaissance Capital analysts noted.

Tatneft is not the first Russian oil company to enter the Turkish retail market. So, back in 2006, LUKOIL began to acquire filling stations in Turkey, and in 2008, it acquired the Akpet company, which owned about 700 filling stations, from the Aitemiz family. The deal amounted to $555 million. “Unfortunately, especially during the election period, the government is exerting some pressure on sellers to reduce the price (for fuel.— “b”), – complained in 2016 the co-owner of LUKOIL Leonid Fedun. – From the point of view of business development, this is not very good, since the profitability of projects is falling.

Tatneft, like other Russian companies, is now trying to expand the guaranteed sales of petroleum products both in Russia and abroad, according to Sergei Kondratiev from the Institute of Energy and Finance, Turkey can be classified as a neutral country that continues economic relations with Russia and has not introduced sanctions.

According to him, Aytemiz is a fairly large player, but the leaders in the Turkish market are Petrol Ofisi (controlled by Vitol), which has over 1.7 thousand gas stations and controls 23% of motor fuel sales, and Opet, which has over 1.8 thousand vehicles. gas station. The purchase opens up new opportunities for Tatneft, since the Turkish market may become the second most important for the company with the sale of up to 2 million tons of gasoline and diesel fuel annually, the expert believes.

Dmitry Kozlov