Alparslan Bayraktar
Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said this at a regional strategy meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.
Bayraktar recalled that until 2016, Turkey was exploring natural gas and oil with foreign partners, but decided to explore natural gas and oil with its own vessels, its own engineers and technicians.
“Turkey has decided to implement a large-scale program to explore for natural gas and oil, primarily in the Blue Homeland – in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The country’s first drilling vessel was the “Fatih”. It was then joined by the Yavuz, Kanuni and Abdülhamid Han. In addition, the previous day we met the vessel “Çağrı Bey” in Somalia and the drilling vessel “Yıldırım” was sent to the Black Sea. Turkey also has two seismic vessels at its disposal – “Oruç Reis” and “Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha”. Thanks to this fleet, Turkey has become the 4th largest deepwater fleet in the world. Now the country is independently searching for natural gas and oil in its own seas,” emphasized the head of the agency, quoted by Anadolu Agency.
Minister Bayraktar recalled that due to the intensive work being carried out, the largest natural gas discovery in the history of the Republic of Turkey was made in 2020. Already in April 2023, gas from the Sakarya field was delivered to Zonguldak. Today, this gas is supplied to 4 million households across the country.
According to the official, the agency plans to quadruple the volume by 2028: “then about 16-17 million households will already receive natural gas from the Black Sea through their own production.” Drilling of new wells has already begun in the Black Sea, and prospecting work continues in various regions.
Bayraktar emphasized that Turkey has now reached a production level of about 80,000 barrels per day thanks to oil deposits discovered in 2021. The contribution to the country’s economy at current oil prices is nearly $3.5 billion.
Bayraktar also said that the construction of four reactors at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey’s Mersin province is underway, with the first reactor more than 95% ready and testing ongoing. The agency’s goal is to generate the first electricity at Akkuyu NPP by the end of this year.
Akkuyu NPP is the first nuclear power plant in Turkey being built by Russian state corporation Rosatom in Mersin province. The project includes four power units with generation 3+ VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 MW.
