All PostsBusiness ArticlesFeatured-MainPolitics (Foreign)

Experts have various opinions about natural gas reserves Turkey has found in Black Sea

"Share this post on social media, spread the news"

The announcement that a natural gas reserve large enough to meet Turkey’s needs for years has been found was made by AK Party leader and President Tayyip Erdogan. However, many experts believe that Erdogan’s announcement that “a new era will be opened in Turkey” does not seem to have fully met expectations.

It was announced by the president that there was a large amount of gas in the Black Sea, about 100 miles off Akcakoca, near the borders of the exclusive economic zone of our country. Some immediately started arguing that this discovery could solve the country’s energy and foreign payments deficit problem.

Generally speaking, TPAO’s finding of natural gas deposits in the Black Sea is interpreted as positive, obviously. Still experts don’t perceive it as a magic key to solving the country’s energy problems. They say, “TPAO, a state-owned company, has found gas in the Black Sea after many years of work. However, it is not possible to extract gas from this site from today to tomorrow.”

Certainly, there are concrete reasons for this statement. In order to achieve results accomplishment of following will be required first.

-Determination of the geological and geophysical texture and structure of the gas site,
-Calculation of reliable reserve formation, structure and reproducible quantity,
-Pre-production necessary technical preparation studies,
-Determination and opening of production wells,

-Construction of drilling and production platforms, transfer to the site, assembly
-Construction of surface facilities where onshore gas will be transported
-Construction of long pipelines to carry onshore gas to be produced in the field

Such matters need to be dealt with first. No doubt, all of these are known as comprehensive and long-time high-cost investments that require intensive and qualified work.

In the meantime, the fact that gas has been found in the Black Sea does not require us to play down the current picture regarding Turkish-Greek tension in the Mediterranean,

It is noted that the current administration has not done its work regarding gas in this region  as due and in due time and therefore Turkey is in conflict with many countries in terms of her benefits in the region. To provide an example we can refer “lack of bilateral agreements with countries bordering the Eastern Mediterranean and efforts to register these agreements on international platforms”.  Experts note following; “If Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt had been reconciled during good bilateral relations and mutual agreements had been concluded, the Cypriot Greeks and Greece would not have been so comfortable, despite all the EU support they would probably still enjoy. Accordingly, Turkey must immediately make peace with Syria, reconcile with Egypt and register its rights in international platforms using all means of diplomacy.”

Another important issue is: Can this gas found in Black Sea, solve Turkey’s energy problem?

In reply to this question experts say “It is not possible to say how much production will be done in the field annually, from today. Our country’s annual gas consumption in recent years is between 45 and 50 billion m3. Production on the newly found site will be able to meet this need only in a specific section. Therefore, our country will continue to pursue and pay billions of dollars for gas imports until then. Moreover, it seems that referred amount of gas will be sufficient for a period of 5-6 years.”

HEALTH MUSEUM VIDEO PIC 2