Turkey stated that there is a possibility that it would cooperate with foreign companies to develop its massive discovery in the Black Sea.
According to an article by Reuters , Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez stated that the country would operate the gas field.
Donmez reminded that the country made the discovery on its own with the Tuna-1 (Danube-1) well but did leave room for possible cooperation with foreign firms in terms of detailed work and equipment.
This statement came only days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that 85 billion cubic meters of natural gas were added to the initial 320 bcm at the Tuna-1 discovery.
At the press conference on Saturday held on the helideck of the Fatih drillship, Erdoğan claimed that the reserves at the discovery were now estimated to hold 405 bcm of natural gas.
To remind, Fatih started operating at the Tuna-1 well in late July, some 100 nautical miles north of the Turkish coast in the western Black Sea. The gas find was made in August and the initially expected reserve was around 800 billion cubic metres.
At the time, WoodMac called the discovery transformational for Turkey but did state that, no matter the political and economic importance, reaping the supply rewards would be complex and a 2023 date for bringing it online was ambitious.
All drilling activities at the well are now completed and Fatih will continue drilling in November at the Turkali-1 well at the Sakarya field where the Tuna-1 well is also located.
Fatih is currently the only vessel working in the Black Sea. According to AIS data, it is located off the Filyos port. As previously announced , the drillship would be joined by the Kanuni drillship following maintenance works.
Turkey’s oil company TPAO said via social media channels on Thursday that Kanuni arrived at the Haydarpasa port where the drilling tower would be removed from the rig to enable the drillship’s crossing under the Bosphorus bridges on its way to the Black Sea.
Also, in a statement published several days ago , TPAO stated that it planned to drill two appraisal wells back to back using Fatih while the Kanuni will be carrying out well tests.
According to the company, Sakarya 3D, dubbed by TPAO as the largest seismic acquisition in the Black Sea, will start in November to explore the potential in the broader basin.
The company added that a pre-FEED agreement has already been signed for the concept selection to produce the first gas from the Sakarya field by early 2023.