⁍ Analysts had said that the find represents a major discovery and was one of the largest global discoveries in 2020.

---

⁍ If the gas can be commercially extracted, the discovery could transform Turkey’s dependence on Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan for energy imports.

---

– In August, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced that an oil and gas field off the country’s Black Sea coast contained 320 billion cubic meters of gas, making it the country’s biggest natural gas discovery ever. On Saturday, Erdogan announced that an additional 85 billion cubic meters had been found, making the field’s estimated reserves up to 405 billion cubic meters, Reuters reports. Erdogan said that the drilling ship Fatih had reached a depth of 4,775 feet in the Sakarya borehole, and that new drilling would begin next month. If the gas can be commercially extracted, the discovery could transform Turkey’s dependence on Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan for energy imports. Turkey expects the first gas flow from field in 2023. One source close to the matter said an annual gas flow of 15 billion cubic meters was envisaged from 2025. Turkey has also been exploring for hydrocarbons in the Mediterranean, where its survey operations in disputed waters have drawn protests from Greece and Cyprus. Greece and Cyprus pushed for a tougher response to Turkey’s natural gas exploration in contested waters at a European Union summit on Friday, but were essentially told to hold off until a meeting in December. Erdogan said Saturday that the EU had become ‘captive’ to Greece and Greek Cypriots in the dispute over natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean and this had damaged the bloc. “If the EU does not hold an unbiased stance in existing disputes in the eastern Mediterranean, this situation will be the official declaration of the end of the European Union,” he said.