Turkey has discovered significant gas resources in the Black Sea, President Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday. According to the president, the 320 Bcm (11.3 Tcf) field is the biggest natural gas found in Turkey’s history. However, it remained unclear whether the figure represents overall natural gas estimates or amounts that could be extracted. Either way, it represents the country’s biggest-ever find and one of the largest global discoveries this year.
If Turkey can extract the resources commercially, it will strengthen the country’s energy security and ease its dependence on Russian, Iranian, and Azeri gas supplies. Erdogan said that Turkey would be a net energy exporter. He added that the newly-found resources were part of even larger reserves and could come online as soon as 2023.
Turkey’s energy import bill reached $41 billion in 2019. Any reduction in that amount will likely boost government finances and ease the country’s chronic current account deficit. However, it will require billions of dollars of investment and up to a decade to construct the infrastructure to extract the gas from the reserves.
According to Energy Minister Fatih Donmez, the gas find is located about 100 nautical miles north of the Turkish coast and is 2,100 metres deep. Donmez said that state-owned energy companies would handle the operation of the gas field. Erdogan also noted that his country would accelerate hydrocarbon operations in the Mediterranean. Turkey’s Mediterranean operations are located in disputed waters and have prompted protests from Cyprus and Greece.
