TPAO has commissioned the Sakarya gas field development project in the Black Sea, which is believed to be the first deepwater gas field discovery and the largest gas reserve in Turkish seas. The first phase of the Sakarya gas field is expected to produce 10 million cubic meters of natural gas. Its production can subsequently be increased to 40 million cubic meters by drilling more wells.

The Sakarya gas field is located in Block C26 in the western part of the Black Sea, 165 kilometers from the coast of Filyos in Zonguldak Province. The oil field is located in Türkiye's exclusive economic zone, with a depth of nearly 2,200 meters. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the commissioning ceremony of the project.

Once we reach full capacity, we will be able to meet almost 30 percent of Turkey's total annual demand, Erdogan said. This project will not only help us significantly reduce our country's external dependence on natural gas, but will also make Filyos and Zonguldak an important energy, technology and logistics base.

The first phase involves the production of gas using a subsea production system of 10 wells. The gas will be transported onshore via 16-inch diameter carbon steel pipelines and processed at the onshore production facility in Zonguldak Çaycuma district.

The second phase will drill up to 30 new wells, which will be connected to subsea production systems. A new pipeline with a diameter of 24 inches or larger will be installed to carry the additional natural gas drawn from Phase 2.

TPAO announced the gas discovery in August 2020 after the Fatih drillship drilled the Tuna-1 well in the Sakarya block at a water depth of 2,115 meters. The Turkish state-owned oil and gas company drilled the Tuna-1 well to a total depth of 4,525 meters and discovered natural gas reservoirs of more than 100 meters in the Pliocene and Miocene sands.

In late 2021, TPAO awarded the integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract for the first phase of the Sakarya gas field development to a consortium of Subsea7 and Schlumberger. Wood has been named managing partner of the offshore gas project.Editor/XingWentao