State energy company Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) has acquired a vast floating platform that will enable it to process Türkiye's vast natural gas reserve discovered off its Black Sea coast, a report said Monday.
Heavily dependent on imports for its energy needs, Türkiye has been developing the 710 billion cubic meter (bcm) natural gas field in the Black Sea, which was gradually discovered since August 2020.
In April, it started pumping the gas from the Sakarya gas field off northwestern Zonguldak province into the national grid through a pipeline linked to the onshore processing plant.
To expand its capabilities to process the gas in the middle of the sea, TPAO has purchased a platform resembling a ship and boasting a width of 360 meters (1,180 feet), approximately the size of four football fields, Sabah daily reported.
The platform, purchased from Brazil and currently undergoing modernization in Singapore, is set to be brought to Türkiye by June 2025.
Türkiye has ramped up the daily production of gas to approximately 4 million cubic meters (mcm). It is on course with phase one of the field's production goal to initially produce 10 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
The utilization of the floating platform will help increase the output to 20 million cubic meters. The production will be increased to 40 million cubic meters of gas per day in the coming years as other wells go into operation.
The platform will process raw gas from the depths of the Black Sea, conduct processing operations in the middle of the sea and transport the processed gas to the shore through the pipeline systems.
Unlike a typical ship, the platform will lack its own engine and will be towed by other vessels. It will not only process raw gas at sea but will also provide all necessary living quarters for the technical personnel working on board.
Upon the commencement of platform operations, foreign expert teams will be brought in from Norway, according to Sabah. These teams will contribute to the platform's operations and will also provide training to Turkish teams.
Calculations indicate that the cost of acquiring and revising a used platform is approximately 60% more advantageous than building a new one from scratch, a process that is said to last at least five years. The Sabah report said this played a crucial role in the decision to opt for a secondhand platform.
Türkiye will become the sixth country to possess such a platform after the United States, Russia, Brazil, Norway and Malaysia. The vessel has already been adorned with the Turkish flag.