Türkiye saw the potential of exporting its gas to Europe from the Black Sea shelf

Turkey plans to export to Europe part of the gas that will be produced at the offshore Sakarya field in the Black Sea, Turkish Petroleum CEO Melih Khan Bilgin said. Gas production at the field will be launched on April 20, 2023. According to Bilgin, he sees “good potential for the European gas market” in this field (quoted by the Financial Times). “Under the current market conditions, I think we will not have any difficulty in finding customers,” he added.

On the Black Sea shelf along the coast of Turkey, according to Turkish Petroleum, up to 710 billion cubic meters have been discovered. m of recoverable natural gas. Most of this volume is located in the Sakarya field. The Turkish company is developing the field jointly with a consortium that includes the American oilfield service company Schlumberger and the British Subsea 7. Bilgin said that in September, when seven more wells are put into operation, gas production at Sakarya will reach 10 million cubic meters. m per day. He hopes that production will reach the level of 40 million cubic meters. m per day by 2028, when the field will operate at full capacity. Bilgin also acknowledged that Russian energy discounts have helped Turkish Petroleum’s business grow and stressed that Turkey continues to deepen trade relations with Russia.

On April 13, Bilgin told TASS that the Sakarya field would be involved in the project to create a Turkish gas hub, but Turkey would still continue to import gas. He explained that now Turkey is 99.5% dependent on gas imports from abroad. At the same time, the start of production at Sakarya will help reduce this dependence by 15% by the end of 2023 in the first phase, and in the second phase of the project – by 35%.

Now Türkiye is a gas importer. According to the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Council (EPDK), in 2022 the country imported 54.7 billion cubic meters. m of gas – 7% less than in 2021. Pipeline gas supplies from Russia decreased by 18% to 21.6 billion cubic meters. m. Deliveries of Russian gas to Turkey go through the gas pipelines “Turkish Stream” and “Blue Stream”. Iran was the second largest exporter of gas to Turkey in 2022 – 9.4 billion cubic meters. m, the third – Azerbaijan (8.7 billion cubic meters).

The idea to create a gas hub in Turkey was proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in October 2022. According to him, the lost volume of exports that Russia previously supplied through Nord Stream could be redirected to this hub. Putin explained that it could be the construction of another gas pipeline and the creation of a hub in Turkey, through which fuel will be supplied to third countries. The Turkish authorities have shown great interest in the project. In February, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the country, Fatih Donmez, reported that the work on the creation of the hub was close to completion, and the first trade operation could take place in 2023.

The idea to create a hub in Turkey was put forward against the backdrop of a sharp decline in pipeline exports of Russian gas to Europe in 2022. In May, Ukraine stopped pumping Russian gas through one of the two gas measuring stations. Then, since June, deliveries through Nord Stream began to fall due to equipment problems. Siemens Energy, and at the end of August, exports through this pipeline ceased completely. Already in September, both lines of Nord Stream and one line of the unlaunched Nord Stream 2 suffered as a result of sabotage. Now gas supplies from Russia to Europe continue through the territory of Ukraine (Gazprom’s application for April 17 was 40.8 million cubic meters) and through a branch from the Turkish Stream (according to the latest available data, 35.5 million cubic meters).

Analyst of FG “Finam” Sergey Kaufman believes that for Russia the main interest in the gas hub project is swap supplies with Turkey. In his opinion, the interest of other countries in exporting gas through Turkey to Europe, for example, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, may become an obstacle to direct supplies. According to Ekaterina Krylova, managing expert of the PSB Analytics and Expertise Center, Azerbaijan, like Iran, can participate in swap gas supplies with Turkey on a par with Russia. According to her, Türkiye can potentially export 30-40 billion cubic meters. m of gas per year.