Turkey announces big boost in Black Sea gas reserves

Saturday, December 31 2022

Fossil Energy – Turkey

Turkey has upped the estimate of its natural gas reserves in the Black Sea by nearly a third, putting its total deposits at 710 billion cubic metres (bcm) in a boost to its aims of increasing its energy independence.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had revised upwards the estimated volume of gas contained in its Sakarya field from the previous 540 bcm.

“With our new discovery at Caycuma-1, our gas reserve in the Black Sea has risen by 170 billion cubic metres to 710 billion cubic metres,” he said.

An additional 58 bcm were discovered in another Black Sea field, the Turkish leader added.

“This new discovery will open the door for new ones. We’ll start drilling new wells as soon as possible,” Erdogan told a press conference.

At the moment, Turkey has little of its own oil and gas and is highly dependent on imports from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. It also imports LNG from Qatar, the United States, Nigeria and Algeria.

Turkey believes it is well placed to benefit from the war in Ukraine rewiring the global energy trade.