New reserve could supply Turkey’s total gas consumption for 7 to 8 years, Donmez says
Friday’s big announcement of a natural gas find in the Black Sea is nearly worth $65 billion, according to Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez on Friday.
Speaking during an interview on TRT Haber television channel, Donmez said that it is difficult to make projections for the future without exact estimations for future gas and oil prices.
“Globally gas prices are oil-indexed. We can say that the economic value of 320 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas reserve discovered in Black Sea could be $65 billion if we look at it with a perspective of gas prices for the last 3 to 5 years,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday announced the discovery of 320 bcm of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea,near the Turkish coast.
The discovery in the well Tuna 1 at Sakarya Gas Field, which is around 170 kilometers offshore Black Sea, is the result of Turkey’s insistent efforts for finding domestic hydrocarbon resources.
Fatih drill ship, which started drilling in the location on July 20, 2020, discovered the well after a month of drilling.
Donmez added that the seismic works in the area where the reserves discovered have started almost 14 months ago.
“The sea depth in the area is almost 2,100 meters. After a drilling of 1,500 meters, we cut-off two gas reservoirs. One of them is at 100 meters and the other is at 400 meters and from here gas flow started. Technical staff tested gas samples and pressure tests are conducted. We reached a decision of gas find here,” he explained.
Having conducted 6 deep sea drillings through partnerships with international companies in Black Sea since 2004, these studies failed to reach any major gas find, according to Donmez.
“However the area where we discovered gas was a new area that no seismic survey had been completed before. 3 or 4 years ago, there was a discovery of a smaller amount of gas reserves compared to what we have today, which is relatively close to this area offshore Romania. At the first stage, we conducted a seismic survey of an area of 2,000 square kilometers and then we started the first drilling in the area with the highest potential,” he added.
However, Donmez said that the whole area equals to 8,000 square kilometers where new seismic studies will be conducted.
“These formations hold similar characteristics. In the future we will open new exploratory wells. The amount of reserves will then become clearer but our expectations for a larger capacity of reserves are high,” Donmez added.
- Enough gas to meet up to 8 years of total domestic consumption
Noting that Turkey’s annual gas consumption is about 45-50 bcm, Donmez said that the amount of gas reserves in the discovered field could meet Turkey’s total gas consumption for 7 to 8 years without any additional gas imports.
“Our target is to send the first gas to the shore by 2023,” Donmez said, adding that a production plan will be designed to this end.
Donmez asserted that Turkish Petroleum has gained an extensive knowledge and experience in the last years and Turkey will continue its drilling and seismic studies through its own means.
“Probably, an international tender will be held for the construction of the required pipeline [to transport gas to the shore from the field], however the operation will be fully managed by Turkish Petroleum,” minister Donmez explained.