Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said that his country plans to become self-sufficient in the field of energy during the next three decades, announcing that oil production in mountain Gabar (east) has exceeded 30 thousand barrels per day.
The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources stated in a statement that Bayraktar held a meeting with a group of Turkish youth in the capital, Ankara, in which he answered their inquiries about topics related to the country’s work in the field of energy.
According to the statement, Bayraktar explained that one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s goals for the “Century of Turkey” is energy independence.
He added: “Therefore, we have a definitive goal in energy, which is to make Turkey completely independent (self-sufficient) in the field of energy and save it from the import problem in the ‘Turkey Century,’ and we hope to achieve this within the next thirty years.”
The “Century of Turkey” is a vision announced by President Erdogan in late 2022, which includes the programs and goals of the Republic in its second centenary.
Bayraktar stressed that independence in the field of energy means Turkey’s independence, and that Turkey’s security in this field is an issue equivalent to Turkey’s national security.
He pointed to President Erdogan’s announcement of the discovery of a natural gas field off the coast of the Black Sea in August 2020, which is the largest in the country’s history, with a volume of gas that may meet between 25 to 30 percent of Turkey’s needs.
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In late 2022, Turkey announced the discovery of an additional 170 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Black Sea, bringing the total volume of discoveries to 710 billion cubic meters.
The Turkish Minister also referred in the context to the discovery of an oil reserve in the state of Şırnak (east) in May 2023.
He said: “We found crude oil in mountain Gabar and are extracting oil from the region. The daily production extracted from Gabar has exceeded 30 thousand barrels.”
Last May, President Erdogan announced the discovery of an oil discovery with a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day in the state of Şırnak.
He added at the time: “I would like to announce new good news. We have discovered an oil field with a production capacity of up to 100,000 barrels per day in Gora Gabar.”
According to monitoring data from Turkey’s Mediterranean Program for the years 2024-2026, Turkey’s energy imports rose to a record level, recording $96.5 billion in 2022, accompanied by the impact of the sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which caused commodity prices to rise in the aforementioned year.
However, the decline in energy prices during the current year 2023, according to the same data in September of this year due to the increase in gas reserves in Europe and weak demand for it in China, Turkey’s energy imports decreased by 26.2 percent in the period from January to July. 2023 compared to the same period last year, declining to $41 billion.
In parallel, estimates based on data indicate that Turkey’s energy imports will decrease by 26.4 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 and decline to $71 billion.
It is expected that these imports will reach $77.3 billion in 2024 and $76.3 billion in 2025.
