Türkiye's state-owned oil and gas giant is widening its international footprint from onshore production to offshore exploration, following its entry into a major oil project in Iraq's Kirkuk region with a new stake in an offshore Black Sea block in Bulgaria.
The latest moves advance Ankara's strategy of expanding overseas operations of Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) through partnerships with international energy companies as it seeks to strengthen energy security and build a larger global production portfolio.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has repeatedly said this year that Türkiye aims to transform TPAO into a more prominent energy producer.
Under the strategy, the company is targeting production of around 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2028, with a longer-term goal of increasing output to 1 million barrels per day.
Bulgaria venture expands offshore exploration
TPAO's entry into Bulgaria became official after the Bulgarian Council of Ministers approved the partnership agreement last week, following its signing on Feb. 18.
The approval gives TPAO a 33% stake in the exploration license for the Khan Tervel Block 1-26, located in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.
Under the partnership, Shell will operate the project with a 42% interest, while OMV holds the remaining 25%.
Covering roughly 3,800 square kilometers, the block lies close to Türkiye's Sakarya Gas Field, home to the country's largest-ever natural gas discovery.
Bayraktar has said the first phase of the project will involve seismic surveys jointly conducted with Shell, followed by exploratory drilling under a five-year exploration license.
The project is expected to allow TPAO to leverage the deepwater exploration and production expertise it gained at the Sakarya field while expanding its offshore operations and strengthening technical cooperation with international energy companies.
Kirkuk partnership strengthens onshore portfolio
The Bulgaria investment follows TPAO's expansion into Iraq through a consortium developing several of the country's largest oil fields.
Under that agreement, announced nearly a week ago, TPAO acquired a 15% stake alongside BP and ConocoPhillips in the consortium developing the Baba and Avanah domes and the Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khabbaz fields in Iraq's Kirkuk region.
According to the latest field-level production data published by Iraq's Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the fields currently produce around 300,000 barrels of oil per day.
The project's initial phase is estimated to encompass more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, while the wider contract area is believed to hold resource potential of up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Energy analysts view the investment as strategically important both for expanding TPAO's overseas production capacity and supporting Türkiye's broader ambitions to strengthen energy security and position itself as a regional energy hub.
Global partnerships gather pace
Alongside its projects in Iraq and Bulgaria, TPAO has expanded cooperation with several of the world's largest energy companies this year.
In January, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with ExxonMobil subsidiary ESSO Exploration International Limited covering potential oil and natural gas exploration in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and other prospective regions.
A month later, it reached a separate agreement with Chevron to cooperate on upstream oil and gas exploration and production projects in Türkiye and abroad.
TPAO also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with BP in the oil and natural gas sector, followed by a memorandum of understanding with TotalEnergies in April to explore joint exploration opportunities in the Black Sea and international markets.
The agreements complement TPAO's ongoing exploration and production activities at strategic domestic fields including Gabar and Sakarya, while expanding its overseas presence across both offshore exploration and onshore production.
Moving beyond being only transit route
Osama Rizvi, an energy and economics analyst at U.S.-based Primary Vision Network, said TPAO's expansion into Bulgaria following the Kirkuk investment strengthens Türkiye's role beyond that of a traditional energy transit country.
"This moves Türkiye beyond being only a transit route. By owning stakes in production, Türkiye gains revenue, supply options and influence across exploration, production, pipelines, trading and refining. This creates asset-based leverage, not just geographic leverage," Rizvi told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Francesco Sassi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo, said TPAO has significantly broadened its international activities in recent years and has become an increasingly important instrument of Türkiye's energy diplomacy.
"TPAO has become a relevant player in Türkiye's energy diplomacy, a significant aspect of Ankara's increasingly ambitious foreign policy," Sassi said.
"Many of these developments suggest that Ankara's maritime ambitions – the concept of the Blue Homeland ('Mavi Vatan') – are indeed connected to energy interests and needs, in addition to projecting Türkiye's influence across the broader region," he added.
According to Sassi, future exploration and development projects in the Black Sea, particularly those involving European energy companies, could further raise TPAO's international profile while supporting Türkiye's long-term energy objectives.