Turkey announces major natural gas discovery in Black Sea
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the discovery of 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas will help Turkey reduce its reliance on foreign energy supplies.
President Receip Tayyip Erdogan unveiled Turkey’s biggest-ever natural gas find in the Black Sea on Friday, a discovery he said will pave the way to energy independence for the country.
“Turkey has discovered its biggest natural gas [reserve] in Turkish history in the Black Sea,” Erdogan said during a televised address Friday at Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace. “My Lord has opened the door to unprecedented wealth for us.”
The president said Turkey’s drilling ship Fatih had found some 320 billion cubic meters (11.3 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas in the western Black Sea. The vessel has been carrying out exploration work for the past month in an area known as Tuna-1 near a Romanian gas field.
Erdogan said Turkey plans to extract and make the gas available by 2023 — the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic.
