Petrol-Is tries once again
ISTANBUL – A Turkish trade union will present new arguments in court to try to block the completed takeover of oil refiner Tupras by Koc Holding and Royal Dutch Shell, it said yesterday. Petrol-Is union leader Mustafa Oztaskin said the body, which had tried before to block the deal, would present to Turkey’s top administrative court documents and information that had not previously been made public. The consortium led by Koc bid a total of $4.14 billion last year for a 51 percent stake in Tupras, in a deal that formed a key element of Ankara’s IMF-driven privatization program. The union successfully blocked a privatization in 2004, but its attempt last year to halt the cash deal failed and the company was handed over to its new owners on Thursday. Shell has a 2 percent stake in the consortium while Turkey’s Koc group has a 98 percent stake. Oztaskin said that despite the small stake held by Shell, Tupras would have to buy at least 40 percent of its crude and sell half of its exports through Shell’s trading arm Stasco. Decision ‘not final’ A Shell spokeswoman in London declined to comment on the trade union’s statement. But a consortium official told Reuters the decision on its foreign trade was not final. «This decision is not compulsory. But if the appropriate competition conditions are in place, this will be done.» Tupras imports about 23 million tons of oil every year and its exports totaled $2 billion last year. The union objects to Shell providing 40 percent of its imports, as Tupras now has seven renewable bilateral deals which supply oil at $4 to $5 a barrel below market prices, Oztaskin said. «In this way, the price flexibility of the crude oil from the seven countries will be lost, because Shell will sell Tupras oil at world market prices,» he said. The union had also said that Shell would have a seat on the board, but the consortium official denied that, saying the board would be made up entirely of Koc representatives. The same union called a two-day stoppage of sales and transport work on Thursday and yesterday in protest against the handover.
