Türkiye to light first gas flare on land from Black Sea in March 2023: Minister

ANKARA

Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez said the work on the natural gas discovered in the Black Sea continues and they aim to “burn this gas on land in the first quarter of 2023, in March.”

Türkiye aims to finalize its current drills for natural gas in the Black Sea wells in 2023, the minister told the Anadolu Agency on Aug. 11.

Stating that 10 wells will be drilled in the first phase, Dönmez said that there is work to be done on land as well.

“Our work to complete the wells continues. There are also up-hole works. We also have work to do on the seafloor. We are establishing an energy base 2,200 meters below the Black Sea,” he said.

Türkiye unloads gigantic structures underground in a corridor 12 kilometers from one end to the other and eight kilometers from the other, he said adding that they mount it at the head of the wells with underwater robots.

“120 kilometers of deep-sea pipe-laying has been completed. 50 kilometers left. Hopefully, in the first quarter of 2023, in March, we will light this gas on land,” Dönmez said.

Minister Dönmez said that eight drillings have been completed so far in the Mediterranean, five of which are within Türkiye’s jurisdiction.

Emphasizing that although every drilling does not result in exploration, Dönmez said, “It is extremely important to know the site. We have come to know the Mediterranean as much as the Black Sea. We took a break for two years due to calendar congestion. Now we are back in the Mediterranean.”

Citing a recent disagreement over the construction process of Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the minister said, “When the matter came to us, we took initiatives to solve the problems quickly. In such large projects, there may be problems in the field, administratively and financially. Unfortunately, these problems were not overcome.”

The issue was also on the agenda of a recent meeting between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi, he said. “We cannot allow disruption in the project schedule. Our expectation is that this problem will be resolved quickly,” Dönmez said.