Erdogan says Turkey discovered 135 bcm additional natural gas in Black Sea

Erdogan says Turkey discovered 135 bcm additional natural gas in Black Sea

ANKARA: Turkey has discovered 135 billion cubic metres of additional natural gas in the southern Black Sea, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, raising the total discovery in the region to 540 billion cubic metres. Last year, Turkey's Fatih drill ship discovered 405 bcm of natural gas in the western Black Sea region's Sakarya field, in the country's biggest discovery. "Our Fatih drill ship made a discovery of 135 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the Amasra-1 borehole in the Sakarya gas field," Erdogan told an opening ceremony in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak. "Our new drilling operations around (the borehole) continue, God willing we expect new good news from this region," he added. Turkey uses two of its three drill ships to speed up field development. In a sign that the size of reserves would upgrade after each drill, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said last month that one drill ship would open new test wells to appraise firmer reserve figures while the second one will upgrade testing wells to production status. Ankara aims to pump gas from the Sakarya field to its main grid in 2023, with sustained plateau production starting in 2027 or 2028. The field