Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday the discovery of a large natural gas reserve off the Black Sea coast, hoping to start extracting and using it by 2023 when Turkey marks the centenary of the founding of the republic.
"Turkey has realized the biggest natural gas find of its history in the Black Sea," Erdogan said Friday in a widely anticipated televised address from an Ottoman palace in Istanbul, linked by video to a drill ship in the western Black Sea.
He said the amount of gas discovered is 320 billion cubic meters, part of even bigger reserves and could come onstream as soon as 2023.
As well as the Black Sea, Turkey has been exploring for hydrocarbons in the Mediterranean, where its survey operations in disputed waters have drawn protests from Greece and Cyprus.
Greek and Turkish warships shadowing a Turkish survey vessel collided there last week.
Erdogan said operations in the Mediterranean would accelerate.
“The European Union should not be a tool in the hands of Greece,” he said.
Turkey imports around 90 percent of its natural gas needs. Last year, energy imports cost the country $41 billion.
"Even if there is a legitimate find that is developed, it would take four to six years to get to the production phase," said John Bowlus, editor-in-chief of Energy Reporters.
"Gas demand and prices are historically low and few are investing in new production," which could tighten supply in 3-4 years, he said. "If developed quickly, this gas could come on the market at an optimal time."
