Reuters. Turkey will deliver the first natural gas from its Black Sea field to the national grid by end-March, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Tuesday (December 27), after President Tayyip Erdogan announced an increase in the volume of gas found.
Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting on Monday (December 26) that the total volume of natural gas which Turkey has discovered in the Black Sea amounts to 710 billion cubic metres (bcm) after a new field was located and a previous find was revised higher.
Erdogan said last month that Turkey is on track for the Sakarya gas field to go online in 2023. He said on Monday that the newly discovered Caycuma-1 field would be connected to the Sakarya field and from there to the national grid.
Turkey, which has little oil and gas, is highly dependent on imports from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as LNG imports from Qatar, the United States, Nigeria and Algeria for its gas.
Turkey has also been exploring for hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean, where its operations in disputed waters have stoked tensions with Greece and Cyprus.
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of setting up a "gas hub" in Turkey following explosions that damaged Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea and halted its direct gas sales to Germany.
