Türkiye has produced 6.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Black Sea since production began in 2023, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Friday.
Bayraktar's remarks came as Türkiye marked six years after announcing its largest-ever gas discovery in the Black Sea and as it prepares to significantly increase production capacity over the next two years to reduce its reliance on imported energy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the discovery of 320 billion cubic meters of gas at the Tuna-1 well on Aug. 21, 2020. The estimate was later revised upward by 85 billion cubic meters to 405 billion cubic meters.
Further discoveries at Amasra-1 in 2021, Çaycuma-1 in 2022 and Göktepe-3 in 2025 brought Türkiye's total estimated Black Sea gas reserves to 785 billion cubic meters.
The Sakarya Gas Field began delivering gas to Türkiye's network after production infrastructure was completed.
Gas reached the shore in April 2023, and locally produced gas was fed into the national transmission network in late August the same year, after processing at a facility at a port in northern Zonguldak province.
Since production began, 12 wells have been brought into operation and the field has produced 6.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
As of May this year, Sakarya accounted for 92% of Türkiye's total domestic gas production.
Current production stands at around 9.5 million cubic meters per day, enough to meet the natural gas needs of approximately 4 million households, Bayraktar said in a statement.
He said the Black Sea discoveries had opened a new phase in Türkiye's drive for greater energy independence.
"Since 2023, we have produced a total of 6.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas, bringing the Black Sea's resources into our country's energy supply,” Bayraktar said.
"We discovered it six years ago; we're producing it today; and tomorrow we'll make even more of it available to our people."
Production target to more than double
Türkiye is now preparing to increase output sharply through new phases of the Sakarya field development project.
The Osman Gazi floating production platform, part of Phase 2, is scheduled to begin operations in the fourth quarter of this year. Its deployment is expected to raise daily production to 20 million cubic meters.
The next major increase is planned for 2028, when a second floating production facility is expected to enter service under Phase 3.
Daily production from the Sakarya field is then targeted to reach 45 million cubic meters, with the overall project expected to eventually include 54 production wells.
From discovery to production
The development of the Sakarya field has required extensive offshore and onshore infrastructure.
A subsea production facility was established approximately 170 kilometers (105.63 miles) north of Filyos port at a water depth of 2,200 meters (7,217.85 feet ).
That was followed by a 170-kilometer pipeline that was built to connect the offshore facility with the Filyos Natural Gas Processing Facility.
The progression from discovery to commercial production has allowed Türkiye to begin converting its large offshore resource base into actual domestic supply.
Türkiye expands offshore drilling fleet
Türkiye is also continuing exploration and production activities with its expanding deep-water drilling fleet.
The Abdülhamid Han, Fatih, Kanuni, Yavuz and Yıldırım drilling vessels are currently operating in the Black Sea. Abdülhamid Han and Fatih are carrying out drilling activities, while Kanuni, Yavuz and Yıldırım are involved in well-completion operations.
The Çağrı Bey drilling vessel is meanwhile conducting hydrocarbon exploration activities off Somalia.