14 June 2022; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country will start pumping ten million cubic metres of natural gas per day from the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea in the first quarter of 2023, Anadolu news agency reported.
Speaking at a public event marking the laying of the first offshore pipeline to carry Black Sea natural gas in the state of Zonguldak, northern Turkiye, Erdogan said the Sakarya Gas Field will reach its peak production in 2026, stressing that Turkiye sees energy as a key to regional cooperation and not an area of tension and conflict.
"It is also important that we make such a historical discovery with completely domestic resources," he added.
Turkey currently has three drillships, Fatih, Kanuni and Yavuz, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
According to the Turkish president, work will begin on a 211-kilometre pipeline in the sea to transport gas, in parallel with laying sea pipelines to extract 40 million cubic metres of natural gas per day through 40 wells that will be drilled in the discovered field in the Black Sea.
The Turkish president had previously announced the discovery of the largest gas field in the country's history in the Black Sea, with a reserve of 540 billion cubic metres.