Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expected to announce a new gas discovery in the Black Sea on Friday, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported late on Thursday.
In an interview with state broadcaster TRT Haber on Tuesday, Erdogan said he would announce “good news” about natural gas reserves in the Black Sea during a mosque opening on Friday.
In one of the world’s biggest finds last year, Turkey said it discovered 405 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the Black Sea’s Sakarya field, about 100 nautical miles north of the Turkish coast. Turkey currently has two drill ships working at several boreholes in the Sakarya gas field.
If the gas can be commercially extracted, the discovery could transform Turkey’s dependence on Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan for energy imports.
Turkey expects the first gas flow from the Sakarya field in 2023. One person familiar with the matter said an annual gas flow of 15 billion cubic metres was envisaged from 2025.