Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday announces a finding of an additional 85 bcm reserves in a gas field off the country’s Black Sea coast. Hence, the field’s estimated reserves are raised to 405 bcm following the 320 bcm of gas discovered in August, making it the largest natural gas finding in Turkey’s history.
Erdogan made the announcement on board the Fatih drillship, which discovered the reserves about 100 nautical miles north of the country’s Black Sea coast. Fatih has completed work in a borehole in the field and will start work on another borehole in November after returning to port for maintenance. Erdoğan added that another drillship, named Kanuni, is sailing toward the Black Sea for drilling operations in the same field.
Gas production in the field, called Sakarya, is expected to start in 2023. Reuters reported that gas flows from the field are estimated to reach 15 bcm annually starting from 2025. Analysts expect the new gas supply from Sakarya to reduce Turkey’s dependence on imports of Russian, Iranian, and Azeri gas. Pipeline gas and LNG suppliers are expected to offer better terms to Turkey if they want to extend long-term contracts.
