‘Black Sea natural gas to meet households’ needs for 33 years’

ISTANBUL

The natural gas discovered in the Black Sea will meet the consumption of households in Türkiye for 33 years, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez has said.

The production from the Black Sea field will reach its peak level in four years, which will help the country reduce its natural gas imports, he added.

“We target around 15 billion to 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas production from this field when the output climbs to its maximum level. Our consumption was 50 billion cubic meters last year. That means natural gas imports will fall by 30 percent,” Dönmez said in an interview with private broadcaster Habertürk following his visit to the Filyos Natural Gas Facility.

He noted that Türkiye imports 99 percent of its natural gas need.
Initially, the total reserve in the Black Sea is 710 billion cubic meters, which will be enough to meet households’ consumption for 33 years, according to the minister.

The natural gas from the Black Sea will be provided to houses in March, he said.

Dönmez added that the first phase of the project foresees opening 10 wells in the field to meet the target of pumping the natural gas to the national grid in two and a half years, while the number of wells is expected to increase to 40 in the second phase.

In the first phase around 3.5 billion to 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be produced annually, which will meet all the cooking gas needs in dwellings, and in four years, all heating needs will be met from the gas produced at the Black Sea field, the minister said.

He also said that Russia has not yet postponed the debt payments of the pipeline company Botaş arising from the natural gas purchase.

“Negotiations are ongoing. We are discussing many issues, including the postponement of payments. Those matters are being discussed with Gazprom,” he said.

Meanwhile, Botaş said on Jan. 7 that the natural gas supply from Iran to Turkey has been down 70 percent since Jan. 1 due to a problem in the Iranian transmission system.

The situation is monitored and measures have been taken to have the problem fixed, the company said in a statement.