Turkey moves at pace on Black Sea gas
The country’s NOC is fast-tracking development of Sakarya, but any need to bring in partners could complicate progress
Turkish NOC TPAO is pushing forward with work to develop the Sakarya gas discovery in the Black Sea. As Ankara prepares to renegotiate its long-term gas supply deals, its urgency is understandable. TPAO made an initial discovery in August last year at the Tuna-1 exploration well, with initial estimates suggesting the field could hold 320bn m³ of gas. With great fanfare, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in October that this had been upgraded to 405bn m³. But the Fatih drillship has only just completed a second exploration well, Turkali-1, at Sakarya. A second drillship, the Kanuni, is also en route to the Black Sea to join the field’s ten-well first phase exploratory drilling

Also in this section
21 February 2025
While large-scale planned LNG schemes in sub-Saharan Africa have faced fresh problems, FLNG projects are stepping into that space
20 February 2025
Greater social mobility means increased global demand for refined fuels and petrochemical products, with Asia leading the way in the expansion of refining capacity
19 February 2025
The EU would do well to ease its gas storage requirements to avoid heavy purchase costs this summer, with the targets having created market distortion while giving sellers a significant advantage over buyers
18 February 2025
Deliveries to China decline by around 1m b/d from move to curb crude exports to Shandong port, putting Iran under further economic pressure