Turkey announces massive natural gas discovery — RT Business News

Türkiye’s natural gas reserves in the Black Sea now total 710 billion cubic meters, with a market value of $1 trillion, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced after the discovery of a new field and a previous discovery revised to the rise.

The increase is mainly due to the Sakarya gas field, which is now estimated to contain 652 billion cubic meters of gas (bcm) compared to an initial assessment of 540 bcm, Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting on Monday, adding that Türkiye had drilled 13 billion cubic meters. well in Sakarya field.

He also mentioned a separate discovery of 58 billion cubic meters of gas in another nearby offshore field.

“With our new discovery at Caycuma-1, our gas reserves in the Black Sea have increased by 170 billion cubic meters to reach 710 billion cubic meters,” said the Turkish president.

Erdogan noted that the newly discovered Caycuma-1 field would be connected to the Sakarya field and from there to the national grid. The Sakarya deposit appears to be the largest ever discovered in the Black Sea and is expected to come online next year, according to the president.

“Our new exploration will pave the way for similar explorations in other geological fields adjacent to the region. We will launch new drilling as soon as possible,” he added.

Before the discovery, Türkiye planned to produce gas at an annual rate of 3.5 billion m3, with the aim of increasing production to 15 billion m3 per year within four years and covering a third of demand. from the country.

It comes as Ankara seeks to diversify away from energy imports, which cover almost all of its domestic consumption. The country is heavily dependent on supplies from Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Nigeria and Algeria, as well as LNG imports from Qatar and the United States.

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