Ankara
Turkey has discovered its largest ever natural gas reserve in the Black Sea with a capacity of 320 billion cubic meters, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced, stressing that initial findings reveal that this reserve stands as just a part of even bigger reserves in the same area.
“Turkey has discovered its biggest natural gas [reserve] in Turkish history in the Black Sea. Our drilling ship, Fatih, has found 320 billion cubic meters natural gas in our Tuna-1 area,” Erdogan said in an address to the nation on Aug. 21 in Istanbul.
Turkey, heavily dependent on foreign energy resources, has long been exploring the hydrocarbon reserves in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean through the deep-sea drillings since the early 2010s. It has accelerated its explorations after it purchased three drilling ships, Yavuz, Kanuni and Fatih under a new energy policy launched in 2017.
“We conducted nine deep-sea drilling and we could be successful in the latest one, thanks to our Fatih drilling ship,” Erdogan stated, naming the Tuna-1 reserve as the Sakarya gas area.
Although the amount of the natural gas discovered in the region is around 320 billion cubic meters and could meet Turkey’s needs only for around fewer than 10 years, Erdogan said data collected as a result of tests and studies show there is strong possibility of larger natural gas reserves in the same area.
Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez echoed Erdogan’s expectation as he informed that the seismic data reveals that there are two more layers of similar structure below. .
