Turkish energy minister invites oil firms to Black Sea

GÜMÜŞHANE - Anatolia News Agency

The Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız speaks with people at Gümüşhane streets. AA photo

Turkey is inviting international oil companies to participate in oil exploration activities in the Black Sea, where it has already spent more than $2.5 billion, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said.

“I’m saying we’re open to working with all international companies which has an offer for the Black Sea region,” Yıldız said April 6 during a visit to the Black Sea province of Gümüşhane.

Recently, the government has revived efforts to seek resources through off-shore drilling operations in the northern part of the country.

Turkey’s state-run oil exploration company, TPAO, has been searching for oil in the Black Sea with Anglo-Dutch Shell, after a number of failed attempts by international energy companies, including Chevron and Exxon.

The minister said Turkey needed to boost its reserve discovery attempts because it must unearth underground resources to meet its energy needs.

“Our country has a substantial size with its 780,000 square kilometers of land, but also with its 280,000 square kilometers of maritime area that we don’t voice a lot. Therefore, we need to go over these areas with a fine-tooth comb,” he said. The minister also said Turkey was seeking to increase its gold production to 36 million tons in 2013 from last year’s 24 million tons. “We believe there are [gold] reserves in Turkey enough to cover our [gold] imports, and we’re paving the way to extract these reserves both with private and state companies,” Yıldız said.