Türkiye expects to double natural gas output from its flagship gas field in the Black Sea after deploying its first floating production platform later this year, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Tuesday.

Preparations for the Osman Gazi are nearing completion at Filyos Port on the Black Sea coast, where it is being readied for a send-off, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said in a statement.

The reserves Türkiye has discovered in the Black Sea since 2020 are estimated at approximately 785 billion cubic meters (bcm). The Sakarya Gas Field alone accounts for about 710 bcm.

The reserves are key to Türkiye’s push to curb its heavy dependence on imported energy. Natural gas, along with crude oil, constitutes the largest item in its energy import bill, which ⁠was $62 billion last year.

The Sakarya field accounted for about 6.6% of Türkiye's 53 bcm gas consumption last year, according to calculations.

Current production from the field stands at 9.5 million cubic meters per day. Osman Gazi is expected to double that output once it enters service.

The platform is planned to be dispatched to its operating location at the end of September and commissioned in the final quarter of the year, Bayraktar said on the social media platform X.

Final stages

As part of the final outfitting process, engineers completed the installation of Osman Gazi's flare tower, a critical safety component designed to safely vent and burn excess hydrocarbon gases during emergency situations while maintaining safe operating pressure.

The installation required two heavy-lift cranes with lifting capacities of 3,500 tons and 800 tons.

The completed flare tower stands 96 meters ( 314.96 feet) high, weighs 260 tons and occupies a base area of approximately 65 square meters.

The ministry described the operation as one of the final major stages before the platform begins offshore operations.

Production targets

Bayraktar said doubling production would enable the Sakarya field to supply natural gas to 8 million households.

Türkiye currently uses production from the Black Sea field to meet the gas needs of around 4 million households.

Bayraktar said Türkiye eventually plans to commission a second, higher-capacity floating production platform by 2028, increasing daily output to 45 million cubic meters.

At that level, domestic production from the Black Sea would be sufficient to meet the natural gas demand of 17 million households, he said.