On Saturday, Turkey’s Energy Minister Fatih Donmez expressed his optimism that the country’s energy imports would be crushed following a major natural gas finding in the Black Sea.
Previously, President Tayyip Erdogan announced the discovery of a 320 bcm (11.3 trillion cf) gasfield. It could come online as soon as 2023. Erdogan also said that Turkey was determined to become a net energy exporter.
“With the discovery, we expect a serious fall in imports. We have established the groundwork for our citizens to use natural gas at much more economic costs,” Donmez said.
He added that it was a new area of 6,000 square kilometers and there are likely similar structures nearby.
In 2019, Turkey’s energy imports cost USD41 billion from Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan, which means any reduction in energy imports would also boost government finances and help ease a chronic current account deficit.
