The United Kingdom giant Subsea 7 and multinational energy company Schlumberger are jointly aiming for the first natural gas from Turkey’s Sakarya gas field in the Black Sea in the first quarter of 2023, Gilles Lafaye, Subsea 7's vice president for Africa, Caspian and the Middle East, said.

Lafaye told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the field, located 155 kilometers (96.31 miles) offshore from Filyos on the Black Sea coast, is the deepest offshore development in the Black Sea to date at approximately 2,000 meters (around 6,562 feet).

A consortium of Subsea 7, a subsea engineering, construction and services company serving the offshore energy industry, and Schlumberger, an oil field services company, will develop, engineer, procure, construct and install (EPCI) the infrastructure needed to extract and process the gas from the deep-water subsea field to the onshore production facility in Filyos.

"The consortium will provide a full turnkey solution from 'reservoir to grid' providing all project management and engineering services to enable the extraction and transportation of the gas from the subsea gas reservoir to the onshore facility where it will then be processed ready for domestic use," he said.

According to Lafaye, Subsea 7 has one of the youngest and largest fleets of specialist installation vessels in the energy sector, with capabilities including pipelaying, subsea construction, diving and heavy lifting, as well as inspection, maintenance and repair.

The international company with over 50 years of experience in the offshore energy industry is listed on the stock market in Oslo, Norway and has successfully delivered over 1,000 projects worldwide in the oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors.

"Currently we have active projects in West Africa, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Brazil, Caspian Sea, Gulf of Mexico, North Sea and now the Black Sea. Combined with our strategic alliances, our specialized technologies and our early engagement with clients, we ensure our multidisciplinary teams can design and safely deliver solutions across the full life of a field, from the conceptual engineering of a new project to the decommissioning of infrastructure at the end of its life," Lafaye explained.

"Subsea 7 has a track record that spans decades in providing optimized solutions for deep-water developments. We are excited to be growing a new business in Turkey and to work on the deepest offshore project in the Black Sea, using our knowledge and expertise to make a significant contribution to the development and growth of the Turkish energy industry," he said.

Turkey’s gas discovery of 405 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the Sakarya field was made last year by the country’s drill ship, Fatih. In June, a second discovery of 135 bcm was made, bringing the cumulative gas discovery to 540 bcm.