Speaking at the International Energy Congress in Ankara on Thursday, Yıldız recalled that companies and consortiums led by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) has won the tender for two of the three natural gas zones in Northern Iraq on Wednesday. Yıldız noted that Turkey will invest nearly $3.2 billion in Iraq by this tender and added that the TPAO would extract 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas in these zones. Moreover, he noted the income generated from natural gas extraction in Iraq will be used to finance the exploration of domestic resources. The Turkish corporation won the tender to develop the Mansuriyah gas field near the Iranian border in Iraq's Diyala province in consortium with the Kuwait Energy Company, which has a 30 percent stake and the South Korean Kogas with a 20 percent stake in the partnership. The consortium will operate the fields for a period of 13 years and has set a target 6.4 million cubic meters gas production per day. Mansuriyah fields contain 128 billion cubic meters of reserves in total, according to the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Separately, the Turkish energy minister touched upon sustainable energy resources. He stated that Turkey consumes 207 billion kilowatts of energy and that 27 percent is provided by domestic sustainable energy resources. "The Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK) has submitted 1,698 projects with a total of 31,500 megawatt energy to the General Directorate of Electrical Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EİE) and Turkish Electricity Production Company (TEİAŞ) for their opinion. I think the electricity producing licenses of these projects will be granted shortly," said Yıldız. "The growth rates in Turkey's energy consumption show us that we are the ranked 12th in the world in terms of energy need. When looking to the current energy facilities of Turkey, we are the sixth in Europe. If we continue growing like this, our energy need will increase and we will become Europe's third country in terms of energy need.CIHAN