Giant gas platform to be used at Sakarya field

Neşe Karanfil-ANKARA

A giant platform that is scheduled to arrive in Türkiye in 2025 will be used to process the natural gas extracted from the Sakarya gas field in the Black Sea.

The platform, which is 360 meters long and 56 meters wide, around the size of four football fields, will boost the daily natural gas production at the field to 20 million cubic meters.

When it arrives, Türkiye will become one of the six countries in the world to have this type of platform.

The platform is currently in Singapore, where it is being renovated to process gas.

Sources said that the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) bought the floating platform from Brazil as part of its plans to increase output from the Sakarya gas field.

Currently, the field produces 4 million cubic meters of gas daily. TPAO aims to boost the daily production to 10 million cubic meters in the first phase and further up to 40 million cubic meters in the second phase.

The platform is currently being overhauled according to Türkiye’s needs to extract oil in the Black Sea.

In the world, only the U.S., Russia, Brazil, Norway and Malaysia have similar platforms.

It takes around five years to build a similar platform from scratch, said sources, adding that an overhauled platform would be around 60 percent more advantageous in terms of cost than a new platform.

As the platform begins to be used, expert teams will be brought in from abroad. These experts will also provide training to Turkish teams.