Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday the discovery of an additional 135 billion cubic meters of natural gas off the coast of his country in the Black Sea.
At a conference in the state of Zonguldak on the Black Sea in the north of the country, Erdogan explained that the total gas reserves discovered in the region amounted to 540 billion cubic meters, with the new discovery. Read also The highest since mid-2019… Inflation in Turkey exceeds 16%7 questions that explain the story of Canal Istanbul and its economic importance Saudi imports from Turkey increased in February The Turkish lira is falling slightly and expectations of the central fixing of interest rates
He stressed that exploration activities in the vicinity of the “Amasra-1” site are continuing, and we look forward to receiving new good news from this area.
And earlier this week, Erdogan said in a television interview that he will give new news on Friday about oil and gas discoveries in the Black Sea.
Bloomberg quoted the sources as saying that the preliminary data of the offshore well “Amasra-1” showed the presence of newly discovered quantities of gas, as reported by the German news agency yesterday, Thursday.
Bloomberg indicated that the figures that Turkey is talking about have not been confirmed by any independent reviewer.
Huge find
Last year, Turkey discovered about 405 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the “Tuna-1” well near “Amasra-1”, which is the largest gas discovery in the Black Sea so far.
Turkey expects the first gas flow from the Sakarya field to be in 2023, and an informed source said that the annual gas flow is expected to reach 15 billion cubic meters from 2025.
And on Thursday, President Erdogan said that his country had succeeded in producing oil from previously closed wells, arguing that they do not contain oil.
Turkish officials say that the state company “Tpao” will take over the development and exploitation of these fields with its own resources, and will not need external financing.
Erdogan believes that the recent discoveries in the field of energy represent a solution to some of the economic problems that Turkey has been suffering from for years, including reliance on imports to provide the country’s energy needs, which puts pressure on Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves.
According to Bloomberg , the Sakarya field is expected to provide up to 30% of the gas required by Turkey’s economy.
Ankara currently imports approximately 50 billion cubic meters of gas it consumes annually, and officials expect domestic production to boost the country’s gas demand by 60%, to reach 80 billion cubic meters annually by 2030.
The discoveries are also expected to allow Turkey to import cheaper gas, reducing the average annual energy bill by about $44 billion.
Long-term contracts with Russia’s Gazprom, Azerbaijan’s Socar, and Nigerian LNG producers for about 16 billion cubic meters of annual supply will soon expire.
Opening of a new port
Also in Turkey, the state of Zonguldak – northwest of Turkey – is witnessing today, Friday, the opening of the “Filios” port, with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adel Kara Ismailoglu, and other officials.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Kara Ismailoglu said that they are continuing with determination to achieve Turkey’s goals in developing its infrastructure in the fields of land, sea and air transport, and added that “Filios” port will be one of the projects that Turkey is proud of.
He pointed out that Filios Port is one of the projects that the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II dreamed of achieving.
He added, “We were able to implement a project that has been a dream for 150 years. The Philios Port will become one of the most prominent maritime trade centers in the region, in addition to being a huge logistics center.”
And the port – whose foundation stone was laid in 2016 – is scheduled to have a capacity in the first phase of 5 million tons annually, and in the second phase it will reach 25 million.