Turkiye broke new ground in its history in this field when natural gas discovered in the Black Sea began to be used in residences on the 100th anniversary of the Republic.
Turkiye carries out drilling activities in the seas with the ships Fatih, Yavuz, Kanuni and Abdulhamid Han, and seismic exploration activities with the ships Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa and MTA Oruc Reis.
The first seismic exploration activities at sea started in 2013 with Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa and MTA Oruc Reis seismic exploration vessels. After collecting data on oil and natural gas resources in the Black Sea, Mediterranean and Marmara Sea with the ships in question, drilling operations started with the ships Fatih and Yavuz.
Fatih, which joined the Turkish Petroleum Joint Stock Partnership (TPAO) inventory in 2017 and is Turkiye’s first national drilling ship, made its first drilling in the Black Sea on July 20, 2020. After a month of work at the Tuna-1 location off the coast of Zonguldak, the first “good news” came on August 21.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the Fatih Drilling Ship discovered 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Tuna-1 well.
With this discovery, the door to a new era has opened in terms of exploration and production activities in the seas. With the discovery of an additional 85 billion cubic meters on October 17, the total amount of natural gas in the Danube-1 region increased to 405 billion cubic meters.
Continuing its exploration activities in Amasra-1, Fatih made a new discovery of 135 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Amasra-1 well on June 4, 2021. With the discovery in question, the natural gas reserves in the country increased to 540 billion cubic meters.
With three-dimensional modeling commissioned by an international evaluation company, the reserve size in the Sakarya field was revised to 652 billion cubic meters. Towards the end of December 2022, a new reserve of 58 billion cubic meters was discovered in the Caycuma-1 well located in the Sakarya Gas Field, increasing the total reserve to 710 billion cubic meters.
It is aimed to produce 3.6 billion cubic meters of gas annually with Black Sea gas, which will start producing 10 million cubic meters per day in the first phase. It is planned to reach a gas production capacity of 40 million cubic meters per day in the second phase and 60 million cubic meters per day in the third phase for Black Sea gas.
Black Sea gas was put into operation at a ceremony held at the Filyos Port in Zonguldak on April 20, with the participation of President Erdogan. Thus, the first shipment was made from the natural gas field in the Black Sea. Currently, daily production in Sakarya Gas Field has reached 4 million cubic meters.
FSRU facilities and LNG terminals
Turkiye has various facilities not only on land but also at sea to ensure natural gas supply security.
Floating LNG Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, which are important components of the natural gas infrastructure, enable the supply of natural gas from different sources and countries without being dependent on pipelines.
Turkiye is among the world’s leading countries in this field with its three FSRUs and two LNG processing facilities.
Marmara Ereglisi LNG Terminal, the construction of which was started by Petroleum Transportation Inc. with Pipe Lines (BOTAS) in 1989, was put into operation in 1994. Egegaz LNG Terminal was established in Izmir’s Aliaga district in 2001 and was put into operation in 2006.
Etki Liman FSRU in Izmir started operating in 2016, Ertugrul Gazi FSRU in Hatay Dortyol started operations in 2021, and Saros FSRU located in the northeast of the Aegean Sea started operating this year.
On the other hand, Turkiye’s first natural gas storage facility, Silivri Natural Gas Storage Facility, was put into service in 2007, and Tuz Golu Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility was put into service in 2017.
Daily gas delivery capacity is 276 million cubic meters
Etki Liman FSRU, Ertugrul Gazi FSRU and Saros FSRU each have the capacity to deliver 28 million cubic meters of natural gas to the network per day. Marmara LNG Terminal can supply 37 million cubic meters of natural gas to the system daily, and Egegaz LNG Terminal can supply 40 million cubic meters of natural gas to the system daily.
75 million cubic meters of gas can be pumped into the network daily from Silivri Natural Gas Storage Facility, and 40 million cubic meters of gas can be pumped into the network daily from Tuz Golu Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility.
Thus, the daily natural gas capacity that can be supplied to the system from LNG, FSRU and storage facilities in Turkiye reaches approximately 276 million cubic meters.
Pipelines
Turkiye supplies gas from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran through pipelines. It has the capacity to receive 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Russia through the TurkStream pipeline and 16 billion cubic meters through the Blue Stream pipeline.
On the other hand, the annual capacity of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) from Azerbaijan is 16 billion cubic meters, and the annual capacity of the Iran-Turkiye Natural Gas Pipeline is 10 billion cubic meters.
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz