Continental Resources, the U.S. shale producer, has estimated that the Diyarbak?r basin in Turkey’s southeast has a reserve of 6.1 billion barrels of shale oil, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, has said.
“Turkey's current annual (crude) oil import amounts to 365 million barrels. So a 6.1 billion barrel reserve is a great figure,” Reuters quoted Bayraktar as saying in southeast Turkey.
In March this year, Turkey’s national oil company TPAO signed an agreement with Continental Resources and TransAtlantic Petroleum to explore and potentially develop unconventional oil and gas resources in the Diyarbak?r basin.
“I hope that this agreement, which opens a new era in oil exploration in Turkiye, will be beneficial for all parties,” minister Bayraktar said at the time.
Continental Resources said in March it had executed a Joint Venture Agreement to commence the commercial development of unconventional oil and gas resources in the Diyarbakir Basin of Southeast Turkey and the Thrace Basin of northwest Turkey.
Early evaluations suggest the Ultimate Recoverable Reserves could reach 6 billion barrels of oil and 12-20 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in the Diyarbakir Basin, and 20-45 TCF in the Thrace Basin, Continental Resources said.
Turkey has just completed phase one development at the Sakarya Gas Field in its Black Sea waters.
Turkey has been boosting natural gas production from its Black Sea operations, where massive gas reserves have been found in recent years.
At Sakarya, daily gas production is now around 9.5 million cubic meters, which provides gas and energy to about 4 million Turkish households.
A floating production platform at Sakarya is expected to double gas production in 2026, the energy ministry said earlier this year.
In 2028, daily production is expected to increase to 40 million cubic meters and the natural gas needs of all households will be met from the Sakarya Gas Field, the ministry noted.
(Oilprice.com, May 21, 2025)
