Sunita Somvanshi
Turkey just found enough natural gas under the Black Sea to heat and power Turkish homes for three and a half years straight. The newly discovered gas field holds 75 billion cubic meters of natural gas – worth about $30 billion at today’s prices.
Turkish drill workers made this major find at the Goktepe-3 well, located deep under the Black Sea waters. The spot sits 69 kilometers west of Turkey’s already-producing Sakarya Gas Field and 165 kilometers from the shoreline. The drilling team, working on the high-tech ship Abdulhamid Han, started digging on March 27 and finished their work in mid-May.
The gas lies 3,500 meters below sea level – that’s incredibly deep underwater. At such depths, getting this gas out isn’t simple or cheap. But Turkey sees it as worth the effort since the country currently imports over 90% of its energy needs.
Turkey’s Black Sea gas is already making a difference in homes. The Sakarya field pumps out 9.5 million cubic meters of gas each day, powering about 4 million households. This new find pushes Turkey’s total Black Sea gas reserves to 785 billion cubic meters – up from the previous 710 billion.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking in Istanbul about the discovery, kept his focus on reducing Turkey’s dependence on foreign gas: “We will continue without stopping until we reach our goal of a fully energy-independent Turkey.”
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What does this mean for Turkish households? Energy expert Oguzhan Akyener breaks down the numbers: “This gas is worth about 1.2 trillion Turkish lira at current prices.” But he adds an important point – the gas won’t flow all at once. Once the field is up and running, it might produce about 6 billion cubic meters yearly.
The impact reaches beyond Turkish homes. Turkey has started selling gas to Balkan countries and is looking toward Syria. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar points to the significance: “Our drilling ship found enough gas to power our homes for 3.5 years – and this was just the first try.”
The numbers tell an important story about Turkey’s energy costs. Every cubic meter of gas pulled from the Black Sea means one less cubic meter Turkey needs to buy from other countries. For a nation spending heavily on foreign energy, this matters.
But gas isn’t Turkey’s only energy focus. The country runs power plants using everything from nuclear and hydroelectric to wind, solar, and geothermal energy. This spread of different energy sources helps protect against supply problems and price swings.
Getting this deep-sea gas isn’t like turning on a tap – it takes complex engineering and careful planning. Turkey will use a floating platform to collect the gas, showing how technical know-how matters as much as having the gas itself.
This Black Sea discovery marks real progress in Turkey’s push to control more of its energy supply. While it won’t end foreign gas purchases overnight, it’s a solid step toward Turkey having more say over its energy future.
