Talk:Gas in Turkey/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Gug01 (talk · contribs) 20:50, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Hello, ! I'm Gug01, and I'll be reviewing this good article nomination. Gug01 (talk) 20:52, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Overall Conclusion
While this article shows great promise, it's nowhere near ready to be a good article at the moment. The article fails to be a GA on multiple criteria. However, I have left a wealth of specific line-by-line opportunities for improvement in the section below, and I hope these will be of use to boost this article's quality. Gug01 (talk) 21:31, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * The prose is deeply confusing, both because of jargon and unideal sentence structure, and is not concise.
 * The lead section needs a complete overhaul.
 * Not everything is properly referenced.
 * The article does not address all the main topics of oil and gas in Turkey, and it goes into too much detail on the specifics of pipelines - not enough forest, too much trees.
 * I'm not convinced the article is neutral, from the underpaying/overpaying issue to occasional editorializing in the prose.


 * Thanks - I will go through the details and make improvements. Chidgk1 (talk) 06:53, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Lead

 * The lead is egregiously bad. It does not introduce the topic, it's far too short, it throws merely a few statistics at the reader, and does not introduce the context of oil and gas in Turkey. The lead of an article should be an abbreviated form of the article's components, yet critical sections in the "oil and gas in Turkey" article - like environmental impact, geopolitics, and economics - are not reflected at all in the lead. For an example of a really good (though very long, due to the subject matter) lead, see Roman people. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Image 1 - what does "primary" mean in the "primary energy supply" in Turkey? How does it differ from energy supply, period? Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Graph made by author; draws on publicly available govt info; seems to be no copyright problems here. I will say, I do appreciate your commitment to Wikipedia that you'll go into govt spreadsheets and devise your own graphs to make the subject matter clearer to the reader. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * In the Star Aegean refinery, it's a bit unclear how the SOCAR refinery connects with the idea that most oil is imported. Is the refinery meant for foreign oil exclusively? If so, add a sentence like: "which processes imported oil ... Most oil is imported." Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Production

 * Combine this section with "Imports," perhaps into something like: "Source of Oil Supply". Discuss imports and towards the end of the section discuss how production is planned. Also, more details on the production are needed - how concrete is this plan? Has Erdogan merely released a general statement of intent, or are preparations underway, and if so to what extent? Has construction began? Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Imports

 * Clarify the unit of bcm - spell what it stands for out the first time you use it for non-technical readers. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "In 2021 imports totalled 60 bcm:" ... "consumed 48.1 bcm of gas," - Well, which is it? 60 or 48.1? Also, throughout the article there's a conflation of gas with oil. Gas and oil are related but different sources of hydrocarbon energy. So, 60 bcm of what - is all that natural gas, or does that figure include oil? Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "BOTAŞ imported 56 bcm in 2021" - Who is BOTAS and what role do they play in Turkish markets? Explain for the non-technical reader. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "In 2021 Turkey consumed 48.1 bcm of gas, which included 33.6% from Russia, 11.1% from Iran," - The sentence is clunky, rephrase Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "KRG" - who is the KRG? Kurdistan? If so, spell it out. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "ontracted supply from Iran are not faults but Iran keeping the gas for its own use" - unclear. What is a fault? Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "suspects winter cuts" -> reword to "forecasts"? Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "use, especially when the market price is high" - You'd think the Iranians would want to sell more gas when the market price is high. Do you mean the market price is low? If not, please explain why this would be the case. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "However some gas in Iran is wasted by flaring so Iran would benefit by selling that.[17]" - source 17 is talking about flaring gas in Iraq, not Iran. Inaccurate statement; find proper sourcing. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "some LPG was also imported from Russia" - what's LPG? Explain for non-technical reader. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "contracts with Gazprom" - clarify that Gazprom = Russian energy company Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "According to a May 2022 report from thinktank Ember wind and solar saved 7 billion dollars on gas imports in the preceding 12 months.[24]" - unclear what this has to do with imports more generally. Perhaps create a section in the article describing how renewables are beginning (or not beginning) to phase out oil consumption in Turkey. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * The second-to-last paragraph is very confusing for a reader who knows little about Turkey's oil situation, so rework for the same kinds of rooms for improvement pointed out above. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Graph of contracts for Turkish graph supply can be improved, as the years are too tightly packed together and it's unclear which contract block pertains to which year. Gug01 (talk) 21:12, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Transmission and storage

 * With the exception of the last sentence, all of this paragraph should go into the larger Imports/Production section, because it's about funneling gas into Turkey, rather than through Turkey. There is also nothing on gas storage in this section, which means an important part of the topic isn't covered. Less detail on the specifics of some of the pipelines would improve concision. Right now, there are too many trees in this article, and not enough forest. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Consumption

 * "About a quarter of gas is used by industry and a quarter by households." - where's the other half going? Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "According to BOTAŞ the price of gas for Turkish households was the lowest in Europe in April 2022,[34] and they said residential customers were getting 70% price support from the government.[35] " - this would fall under Economics
 * Indeed, you should probably merge the section of "consumption" with "economics" as there's a lot of overlap Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Economics

 * "Some imports from Russia are linked to the oil price, which is said to be a good deal for Turkey.[43] For example the BOTAŞ contract for import via Blue Stream, which expires at the end of 2025.[44]" - the second sentence is not complete, and more elaboration is needed. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * The EU green transition is mentioned here. Is there a similar transition in Turkey? How are renewables interacting with oil + gas? The article needs to cover this. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "Some imports from Russia are linked to the oil price, which is said to be a good deal for Turkey.[43] " - yet reference 21 earlier alleges that Turkey overpays for Russian oil. Both perspectives on oil have to be discussed here, not just the underpaying one. Indeed, if anything, the perspective in reference 21 should dominate as reference 43 is citing Igor Yushkov, linked to the Russian government, who has a vested interest in claiming that Turkey is underpaying, not overpaying. Perhaps change to a more nuanced claim of Turkey used to overpay Russia and is now underpaying? Gug01 (talk) 21:27, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Geopolitics

 * "arbitrarily announced the country's" - "arbitrarily" feels too editorializing; remove it. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * "In July 2019, the European Council adopted the following conclusions on the Turkish drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean:[50]" - a full list of the EU's conclusions is not necessary to the scope of the article. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Add more context on the roots of disputes over gas exploration - you mention there are maritime zone disputes briefly, but you should dig into the context of that more - and update the section to discuss what has happened with oil and gas drilling after the 2019 tensions. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

History

 * The history of oil and gas in Turkey is, I'm sure, rich, as entire books have been written on it. The two sentences describing the first imports of oil does not begin to cover the historical topic here. Consider the effects of oil and gas imports on Turkish geopolitics, culture, and economic development in the past as you greatly expand this section. Gug01 (talk) 21:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)