Turkey’s Hunt in Black Sea Becomes the Country’s Historical Find
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the Country’s historical natural gas find in Black Sea on 21 August. The “biggest natural gas discovery” is 320 billion cubic metres and values $65 Billion. Turkey sent their drilling vessel ‘Faith’ into Black Sea in search of natural energy in July and Faith found the gas reserve some 2,100 metres deep in Tuna-1 Zone in its ninth drilling operation.
Energy demand for Turkey in 2019 is about 50bcm and they import their gas mostly from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan. Officials say this gas reserve will strengthen Turkey’s economy, reducing imports and dependence on energy as the country imports 99% of its gas and pays billions annually in purchase to meet their demand.
Ulrich Leuchtmann, Head of Finance and Foreign Exchange at Commerzbank says, “but it’s not the game changer that some were expecting”. Few experts say the extraction process will be challenging and the country is yet to calculate on the finance required and plan for the operation, which in the experts view may take a decade for Turkey to start using their natural gas.
The President says the extraction process will start by 2023 and says this discovery is only a part and they are planning to drill 1,000 more meters deep in the area expecting there will be more resources. He also adds “we will not stop until we become a net exporter of energy”.
