Page 11 - MEOG Week 31 2021
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MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG
Turkey nears start of new Black
Sea exploration campaign
TURKEY TURKEY is planning to start new exploratory of gas was announced by Ankara in 2020 after
drilling in the Black Sea in late 2021 or early exploration conducted using the drillship
2022, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih. In June, Turkey announced another 135
Fatih Dönmez has said. bcm of gas. Officials said it was identified in the
Seismic research at the Sakarya Gas Field, Amasra-1 well of Sakarya.
which extends to 11,000 square kilometres, has In June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip
been completed, according to the minister. Erdogan announced that the country’s NOC
“Turkey imports about 70% of the energy stuck gas with its Amasra-1 exploration
resources it needs and these include oil and well, adding 135bn cubic metres of gas to the
petroleum products as well as natural gas. And game-changing Sakarya discovery declared last
Turkey imports 98% of the natural gas it con- year.
sumes, which is around 50 to 55 billion cubic The Amasra-1 well took the total volume of
metres per year,” Donmez noted. gas reserves discovered by Turkish Petroleum
Turkey has claimed a discovery of 540 bcm Corp. (TPAO) at the Black Sea gas field over the
of gas in the Sakarya field so far and says it will past year to 540bcm.
be exploited by 2023 to alleviate the need for gas Dönmez announced the start of drilling at
imports for the following 10 years. Analysts have Amasra-1 in mid-April. It is one of a 10-well
noted there has been independent verification of drilling campaign designed to achieve first gas by
the size of the discovered resource. 2023 at a rate of 3.65bcm per year and a further
Turkey lit the first Sakarya gas flare on July 30 wells will be drilled to reach an annual plateau
28 in a ceremony attended by President Recep of 15bcm by 2025.
Tayyip Erdogan. Local media have begun quoting an antici-
The Sakarya resource, say officials, amounts pated flow rate of 5-10bcm in 2023, though no
to Turkey’s largest gas find. An initial 405 bcm explanation for the increase has been provided.
Week 31 04•August•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
