Turkey has announced it has discovered a new natural gas reserve of 58 bcm in the Turkish Black Sea. The discovery was made at a depth of 3,023 meters in the Çaycuma-1 gas field, located in the south-western part of the Black Sea.
In addition, Turkey has revised and raised the total gas reserve of the Sakarya gas field, located nearby the Çaycuma-1 field, from 540 bcm to 652 bcm, bringing the total recoverable gas reserves discovered by the country in the Black Sea to 710 bcm. Turkey plans to start pumping the gas into the national grid by 2023 and to reach a sustained plateau production in 2027 or 2028.
Turkey, which has limited gas resources, is highly dependent on gas imports from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as LNG imports from Qatar, the United States, Nigeria and Algeria. In 2021, Turkey imported nearly 59 bcm of natural gas (including 16.5 bcm of LNG) for a consumption of 60 bcm. The country only produced 397 mcm in 2021.