Türkiye plans western Black Sea hydrocarbon exploration this year

Türkiye’s drilling program for this year includes a hydrocarbon exploration in the western Black Sea, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Friday.

Ramped-up explorations in the Black Sea have been part of Türkiye’s proactive approach to fully assess the region’s potential to secure domestic resources to curb its major dependence on external resources.

Bayraktar also stated that Türkiye’s newly acquired natural gas platform is expected in 2026 to commence production of gas the country found in the Black Sea over the past few years.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last weekend said the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) platform is expected to arrive in two months.

The vessel will depart from Singapore as soon as next week, said Bayraktar.

Starting from 2026, the platform is planned to produce 10 million cubic meters (approximately 353 million cubic feet) of gas per day from the Sakarya field off the northwestern Zonguldak province, he noted.

“Our new ship, or floating production platform, is setting sail for Türkiye at the beginning of next week. This vessel is essentially part of our plans to increase production in our Black Sea gas field,” the minister noted.

The reserve, which has been discovered gradually since August 2020, is believed to contain 710 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas.

To capitalize on the find, Türkiye launched a drive to build offshore infrastructure, including drilling platforms and pipelines, to facilitate the extraction and transportation from the Black Sea to onshore facilities.

It started pumping gas from the field into the national grid through a pipeline linked to an onshore processing facility in September 2023.

Once operational, the FPSO will serve as a “base” capable of producing enough gas to supply about 5 million households, Erdoğan said.

The output from the Black Sea reserve has reached 5.1 million cubic meters (mcm) per day, enough to meet the needs of 2 million homes, Bayraktar said earlier this month.

The new vessel measures 300 meters (985) in length and 58 meters in width, Erdoğan said. It could stay in the Black Sea for 15-20 years, he added.

The Sakarya gas field will meet approximately 30% of the nation’s annual gas need once the production reaches total capacity. Türkiye’s annual gas consumption exceeds 50 billion cubic meters (bcm).

The Black Sea output is aimed to be lifted first to 10 mcm before reaching 40 mcm in the final phase, enough to supply up to 15 million households.

In an interview with private broadcaster A Haber on Friday, Bayraktar noted that despite the intensive production schedule in the Black Sea, new exploratory wells will be drilled.

“We will have new exploratory wells and drilling operations in the Black Sea as far as the production schedule allows. One of the locations we decided on after seismic surveys is off the coast of Rize … There are also sites ready for drilling off the coast of Sinop in the western Black Sea,” said the minister.

Pointing to Sinop, Bayraktar indicated that exploratory drilling is planned in the Western Black Sea this year. He mentioned that exploration drilling is planned in the western, central, and eastern parts of the Black Sea.

Last year, officials had voiced indications of oil and gas reserves in the eastern Black Sea.

Asked whether the quantity of oil or natural gas in the planned exploration areas was known, Bayraktar responded, “It would not be accurate to say there is this much oil or natural gas here at the moment.”