Türkiye will soon begin drilling a challenging oil-targeted well in the western Black Sea, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Wednesday, the latest in the country's efforts to expand domestic hydrocarbon reserves.
"We will start an oil-targeted drilling operation in the western Black Sea soon. It will be a difficult drilling operation and will take some time," Bayraktar told private broadcaster CNBC-e.
Türkiye has expanded its offshore exploration capabilities in recent years, increasing its deep-water drilling fleet to six vessels. One of the vessels is currently operating in Somalia, while others are conducting exploration and production-development activities in the Black Sea.
Ankara has previously said it plans six exploration wells across the western, central and eastern Black Sea in 2026 as it seeks new oil and natural gas discoveries.
Bayraktar said Türkiye plans to double the production capacity from its vast Black Sea reserve by the end of this year.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the discovery of 320 billion cubic meters of gas in August 2020. The estimate was later revised upward to 405 billion cubic meters. Further discoveries in 2021, 2022 and 2025 brought the total estimated Black Sea gas reserves to 785 billion cubic meters.
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.
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.
This year's output increase will lift that figure to 8 million households, Bayraktar said.
Production is then targeted to quadruple by 2028. At that point, Türkiye expects to produce around 16 billion to 17 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from its Black Sea fields, equivalent to roughly 80% of the gas it currently imports from Russia.
The Black Sea gas project is a central part of Türkiye's strategy to reduce its dependence on imported energy while diversifying supply sources and infrastructure.
Türkiye has also expanded LNG regasification capacity and aims to raise its daily gasification capacity to 200 million cubic meters. It has increased pipeline connections with neighboring countries and is seeking to develop additional routes for gas imports and exports.
Bayraktar said Türkiye had been pursuing a comprehensive strategy for gas exploration since 2016 under its National Energy and Mining Policy, with the Black Sea discoveries emerging as one of the main results.
The government is also seeking to diversify energy supply routes and strengthen Türkiye's role as an energy transit hub. It is discussing a potential pipeline route that could carry Qatari gas through Türkiye to European markets.
Bayraktar said Türkiye was also looking to increase oil flows through its territory from the Gulf region. If Iraq and Kuwait were able to route part of their production away from the Strait of Hormuz, he said Türkiye could potentially handle as much as 2.5 million barrels per day for delivery to Europe.
Bayraktar's comments came as Türkiye prepares to host this year's U.N.-backed climate summit in southern Antalya in November.
He said Türkiye's main message at the COP31 would be to move from commitments to concrete action on climate change, while acknowledging the challenge posed by global energy security pressures.
The minister pointed to oil prices that surpassed $100 a barrel Wednesday amid escalation in attacks between Iran and the United States. That, along with an increase in global coal use, makes it more difficult to prioritize the climate agenda, said Bayraktar.
At the same time, Bayraktar said Türkiye needed to pursue energy security and the transition to cleaner energy simultaneously.
He said Türkiye was targeting a 35% share of electrification by 2035 and was preparing for a sharp increase in electricity demand driven by urbanization, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and cooling needs.
Türkiye will need significant investment in its electricity transmission network through 2035, he added, as it seeks to connect areas with abundant generation to regions where demand is rising.
Bayraktar also said that work with Canada on Türkiye's planned second and third nuclear power plants was moving quickly, adding that he hoped for a clearer picture on the matter in the coming months.
Türkiye is months away from the planned launch of the initial reactor of its first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu. The four-reactor plant is being built by Russia's state-owned nuclear company Rosatom in the southern Mersin province.
Akkuyu's four reactors will have a combined installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts (MW). Once all units are operational, it is expected to supply about 10% of Türkiye's electricity demand.
Ankara plans to construct two additional plants, one in Sinop on the Black Sea coast and in the Thrace region.
Bayraktar said Ankara was still in talks with China, Russia and South Korea on the nuclear power plant projects in northwestern Türkiye.
