Türkiye's daily oil output has reached 132,000 barrels as of the start of March 2025, as the country expands its energy operations with new wells and equipment to increase domestic production and meet growing demand, a top official said Saturday.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA), Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said that a total of 153 oil exploration wells will be drilled this year, mainly in the southeastern city of Şırnak's Gabar region, as well as in Van, Diyarbakır and along the northern Türkiye-Syria border.
Recalling that Türkiye made a historic oil discovery in Gabar in 2021, the minister said that production from the 95 wells reached 78,000 barrels. The increased output aligns with Türkiye's goal of becoming energy-independent, as exploration and production efforts gain momentum through domestic resources.
Bayraktar explained that following the oil discovery in Gabar, efforts were intensified to boost production, which he said now contributes $2 billion annually to Türkiye's economy.
At the same time, he also highlighted Türkiye's significant contribution to its natural gas supply security with the discovery of the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea in 2020.
Production began just 32 months after the discovery of natural gas, Bayraktar noted, adding that currently, 7 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas is produced from the field.
"(This is) enough to meet the gas needs of approximately 3 million households. In this sense, Türkiye achieved tremendous success in transporting gas from the discovery site to the mainland," he said.
Additionally, the minister informed of the aim to lift the field's daily gas production capacity to 9.5 mcm by the end of March.
Furthermore, Bayraktar touched upon the energy fleet, recalling that Türkiye expanded it with a new member – the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit last September – which will be used to increase the field's natural gas production capacity.
He noted that the FPSO, currently undergoing maintenance in the northwestern province of Çanakkale, will be sent to Filyos in the Black Sea region in May.
By the second half of 2026, the unit will be transported to the natural gas field in the Black Sea to process an additional 10 mcm of natural gas daily for 20 years, he explained.
The minister also said they aim to boost production from the Sakarya field to 20 mcm by mid-2026. This amount meets the daily natural gas needs of 8.5 million households," Bayraktar said.
"Through these efforts, Türkiye aims to meet the natural gas needs of all households with gas produced from the Sakarya Gas Field by 2028," he underlined.
He also said that TL 259 billion ($7.1 billion) would be invested in the energy sector as part of the 2025 Investment Program.
About TL 140.7 billion will be allocated for oil and natural gas exploration and production activities, while TL 45.8 billion will be used for natural gas storage and transmission infrastructure, according to the minister.
Türkiye aims to advance its offshore oil and natural gas exploration and drilling activities, currently conducted with four drilling and two seismic research vessels, by adding an FPSO to its fleet.
Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa and Oruç Reis vessels were tasked with seismic data collection, while Türkiye's first national drilling ship, Fatih, carried out its first national deep-sea drilling in the Black Sea.
Türkiye's second drilling ship, Yavuz, was added to the inventory in 2018.
The third drilling ship, Kanuni, joined the fleet in early 2020. Abdülhamid Han is the latest drilling ship to join the country's fleet in 2022.
