Turkiye discovers new natural gas reserves in Black Sea
Resul Ekrem Sahan
Turkiye will consume own natural gas by March 2023, the energy minister has said, following the announcement by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the country’s reserves in the Black Sea fields have grown to 710 billion cubic meters with a recent discovery of 58 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
“Our Fatih drilling vessel has discovered 58 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves 3,023 meters below the sea level at Caycuma 1 block. We expect this number to be revised upward with the new exploratory wells to be opened. Our new discovery will pave the way for similar discoveries in other geological fields adjacent to the region,” Erdogan said following a routine cabinet meeting on late December 26.
Turkiye discovered a massive natural gas field, dubbed Sakarya field, with around 540 billion cubic meters in mid-2021 in the Black Sea. Erdogan informed that it emerged that Sakarya field contains 652 billion cubic meters of natural gas as a result of a re-evaluation study carried out by one of the world’s most credible companies.
“Our reserves, thus, increased to 710 billion cubic meters with the new finding in Caycuma field,” Erdogan said, adding that the market value of this amount of natural gas is $1 trillion.
Recalling that the government is working day and night for linking the natural gas to the country’s national gas distribution network, the president said the gas found in Caycuma will first be linked to Sakarya field and then will be carried to the mainland.
Erdogan said the government will continue searches for more hydrocarbon reserves both onshore and offshore with the Black Sea as a primary focus.
“Currently, we have seven international pipelines, four LNG terminals, and two underground natural gas storage facilities. Therefore, we have all the infrastructure to become an energy hub,” he said.
Russian gas and sources from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are planned to be transported to the European markets via Turkiye, the president said, adding: “We are determined to turn Turkiye into an energy hub of the Caspian, Mediterranean and the Middle East regions. We will connect east to west not only through our bridges over the Istanbul and Çanakkale straits but also through energy bridges.”
In the meantime, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez provided detailed information about the new discovery and how all this gas will be carried to the use of the Turkish people at a press conference on December 27.
“Our teams are working at full speed. We want to bring the first gas to our nation’s use by March 2023. The century of Turkiye will be the century of energy as well,” he said, underlining that the government’s main objective is to decrease Turkiye’s dependency on foreign hydrocarbon sources.
The works on the land from where the natural gas will be distributed are almost complete and an additional 36-km-long pipeline has already been laid, the minister said.
“Around 8,000 people are working on the project. Plus, our three drilling ships continue their operations. We remotely control these activities. A structure we call Zeki (Smart) will follow all these activities and inform the operators,” Donmez stressed.
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