Türkiye has increased the daily production from a vast natural gas reserve off its Black Sea coast to 8.8 million cubic meters (mcm), a top energy official announced on Friday.
The current output is enough to meet the needs of 3.8 million households, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a conference by the Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC).
The Sakarya Gas Field off the northwestern Zonguldak province is estimated to contain 710 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. The reserve was gradually discovered between 2020 and 2022.
Türkiye is pumping gas into the national grid through a pipeline linked to an onshore processing facility. The reserve will meet approximately 30% of the nation's annual gas need once the production reaches total capacity.
Daily production is expected to rise to 9.5 mcm by the end of April, with the completion of the first phase of development at the Sakarya field, Bayraktar said.
"Next year, we will double this output," he added. "Türkiye will produce 7.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, which is nearly 50 times the total amount of gas we have produced throughout Turkish history."
In 2023, Türkiye acquired a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) platform, which is expected to be operational by 2026 and help Türkiye double its gas production.
The output is aimed to be lifted to 40 mcm in the final phase, enough to supply up to 15 million households.
Türkiye is almost entirely dependent on imports to cover its energy needs, which left it vulnerable to rising costs that surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Over the years, it ramped up its hydrocarbon explorations in the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean to curb external dependence.
