Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to reveal the total size of natural gas reserves discovered about 100 nautical miles north of the Turkish coast in August. At that time, Erdoğan hailed the finding of a 320 Bcm (11.3 Tcf) Black Sea field, the largest gas discovery in the country’s history. The president will make the announcement when he visits the Fatih drillship in the Black Sea on Saturday.
Erdogan said in August that the discovered field, called Sakarya gas field, was part of even bigger reserves. Sources familiar with the matter said Erdogan would also announce an additional 80 bcm of reserves. They said that two major Western companies had requested to participate in the gas production and extraction from the field, but it had been decided that Turkish energy company TPAO will be the sole operator of the field.
The Sakarya gas field is expected to come onstream by January 2023, with annual gas flow expected to reach 15 bcm by 2025. Domestic supplies will reduce Turkey’s dependence on imports of Russian, Azeri, and Iranian natural gas. It will also reduce import bills and boost state finances.
