Türkiye is set to put the natural gas it discovered in the Black Sea into use as of April 20, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Wednesday.
Erdoğan was speaking on a live broadcast where he said Türkiye would “start to use its own natural gas” from then on.
In December, the president announced that the country’s drillship Fatih had discovered an additional 58 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas reserves at 3,023 meters (9,917 feet) at the Çaycuma 1 block in the Black Sea.
He noted that Türkiye’s natural gas reserves in the Black Sea are measured at 710 bcm, with a market value of $1 trillion (TL 18.75 trillion).
In 2022, the country drilled 94 exploration wells and 56 production wells. In 2023, according to previous statements from the energy minister, the government will have 207 wells with 134 exploration and 73 production centers.
About 10 million cubic meters (mcm) of Black Sea gas per day is expected to be transferred in the initial phase, while the infrastructure has been set up to enable this figure to peak at 40 mcm through 2026.
Türkiye currently imports almost all its energy needs and has extensive gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) import infrastructure.
The country’s annual gas consumption rose from 48 bcm in 2020 to a record 60 bcm in 2021. Erdoğan said it was expected to stand at around 53.5 bcm in 2022.
Earlier estimates had put the figure at up to 63 bcm, but the power generated from renewable resources this year drove the gas consumption downward.
The country planned to start pumping the gas into the national grid by the end of March. However, it has faced a delay of up to a month because of the catastrophic earthquakes that ripped through the southeastern region last month.
The delay came as thousands of staff working on the project to bring the gas onshore had to leave to care for their relatives affected by the Feb. 6 quakes and strong aftershocks that killed thousands of people, Daily Sabah reports.
