⁍ Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he will announce the total size of gas reserves found in the country’s largest-ever discovery.
⁍ In August, Erdogan hailed the discovery of a 320 billion cubic metre field in the Black Sea.
⁍ If the gas can be commercially extracted, it could lessen Turkey’s dependence on Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan for energy imports.
– In August, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced what he called the country’s “largest-ever discovery”: a natural gas field in the Black Sea. Now, he says he’ll announce the full amount of the field’s reserves on Saturday, Reuters reports. “On Saturday we will go to the Fatih drill ship and announce the new reserve amount,” Erdogan said Wednesday. “There will be a very serious find there. There are many new areas which have been identified in the Black Sea.” Turkey relies heavily on Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan for energy imports, and if the gas can be commercially extracted, it could lessen Turkey’s dependence on Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. Sources say the first gas flow from the Sakarya field is expected in 2023, with an annual flow of 15 billion cubic feet from 2025. Turkey’s energy import bill stood at $41 billion last year. Any reduction in Turkey’s energy import bill, which stood at $41 billion last year, would boost government finances and help ease a chronic current account deficit, which has helped drive the lira to record lows against the dollar. The source says after the first gas find was announced there were requests from two big Western companies to participate in joint production and extraction, but it has been decided that Turkish energy company TPAO will operate the field on its own. TPAO was not immediately available for comment.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-energy-erdogan/erdogan-set-to-unveil-total-size-of-black-sea-gas-find-idUSKBN26Z1DL