Türkiye’s Black Sea reserve meets gas needs of 1.5M homes

The gas Türkiye started pumping out last year from a vast reserve discovered off its Black Sea coast has been meeting the needs of about 1.5 million households, a senior official said Friday.

Heavily dependent on imports for its energy needs, Türkiye has been developing the 710 billion cubic meter (bcm) natural gas field in the Black Sea, which was gradually discovered in August 2020.

In April 2023, it started pumping gas from the Sakarya field off the northwestern Zonguldak province into the national grid through a pipeline linked to an onshore processing plant.

The daily production of gas from the reserve stands at around 4 million cubic meters (mcm), Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said.

“We will not stop here. We will increase daily production to 10 million cubic meters first and then to 40 million cubic meters,” said Bayraktar.

“We are writing a success story in the production, widespread use and delivery of natural gas to homes and workplaces.”

Türkiye will meet approximately 30% of its annual gas need from Black Sea reserves once it reaches full capacity.

Gas inflow drops

Natural gas inflow to Türkiye’s gas network totaled 51.48 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023, marking an 8% decline year-over-year, according to official figures by the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ).

In 2022, approximately 56.01 bcm of gas was carried through the Turkish natural gas system, with consumption totaling 53.52 bcm.

The drop in inflow level is linked to warmer-than-expected weather conditions for the winter months, leading to a decline in gas demand.

There might be a gap of up to 5% between overall consumption and the quantity of inflow in Türkiye, which also exports natural gas.

Türkiye has been injecting billions of dollars to expand and strengthen its infrastructure and gas network. It has said its gas storages are complete, and Bayraktar stressed they expect to get through the winter months without any problems.

Supply efforts

Bayraktar shared insights into the supply efforts in 2023, emphasizing the significant progress made in expanding access to natural gas.

As of the end of 2023, the number of residential areas with access to natural gas has increased to 836, he said, from 743 settlements in 2022.

“While delivering our domestic gas discovered in the Black Sea to the service of our citizens, we have introduced natural gas comfort to 93 new settlements in the past year. The population with access to natural gas has also increased by 1.1 million, reaching 71.3 million compared to 2022,” he added.

Based on geographical and demographic gas utilization, Bayraktar highlighted the evolution since 2002.

“In 2002, natural gas was only used in 5 cities: Ankara, Istanbul, Kocaeli, Sakarya and Eskişehir, with 57 settlements having access. In line with the target set by our President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we brought natural gas to all 81 provinces by the end of 2018.”