Türkiye to use own gas by March 2023: Erdoğan

ANKARA

Türkiye will start to use its own natural gas by March 2023, the energy minister has said, following the announcement by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the country’s reserves in the Black Sea fields have grown to 710 billion cubic meters with a recent discovery of 58 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

“Our Fatih drilling vessel has discovered 58 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves 3023 meters below the sea level at Çaycuma 1 block. We expect this number to be revised upward with the new exploratory wells we will open. Our new discovery will pave the way for similar discoveries in other geological fields adjacent to the region,” Erdoğan said following a routine cabinet meeting on late Dec. 26.

Türkiye discovered a massive natural gas field, dubbed the Sakarya Field, with around 540 billion cubic meters in mid-2021 in the Black Sea. Erdoğan informed that it was found out that the Sakarya Field contains 652 billion cubic meters of natural gas as a result of a reevaluation study carried out by one of the world’s most credible companies.

“Our reserves, thus, increased to 710 billion cubic meters with the new finding in Çaycuma Field,” Erdoğan said, informing that the market value of this amount of natural gas was $1 trillion.

Recalling that the government is working day and night for linking the natural gas to the country’s national gas distribution network, the president said the gas found in Çaycuma will first be linked to Sakarya Field and then will be carried to the mainland.

More drillings in Black Sea

Erdoğan said the government will continue to search for more hydrocarbon reserves both at sea and on land, with the Black Sea as a primary focus. “Currently, we have seven international pipelines, four LNG terminals and two underground natural gas storage facilities. Therefore, we have all the infrastructure to become an energy hub,” he said.

The Russian gas and sources from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are planned to be transported to the European markets via Türkiye, the president stated, adding: “We are determined to turn Türkiye into an energy hub of the Caspian, Mediterranean and the Middle East regions. We will connect east to west not only through our bridges over the Istanbul and Çanakkale straits but also through energy bridges.”

Works continue at full speed

In the meantime, Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez provided detailed information about the new discovery and how all this gas will be carried to the use of the Turkish people at a press conference on Dec. 27.

“Our teams are working at full speed. We want to bring the first gas to our people’s use by March 2023. The century of Türkiye will be the century of energy as well,” he said, underlining that the government’s main objective is to decrease Türkiye’s dependency on foreign hydrocarbon sources.

The works on the land from where the natural gas will be distributed are almost complete and an additional 36 kilometers-long pipeline has already been laid, the minister said.

“Around 8,000 people are working. Plus, our three drilling ships continue their works. We remotely control these works. A structure we call Zeki [Smart in English] will follow all these works and inform the operators,” Dönmez stressed.