Bloomberg, citing two well-informed Turkish sources, revealed that Ankara had found an energy field in the Black Sea, which is most likely a natural gas field, and the two sources did not reveal any other details related to the size of the discovery or the difficulty of extracting it.
This came on the heels of a speech delivered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, in which he promised that his country would enter a "new era", saying that he would deliver good news to the Turkish people next Friday, pledging to continue exploration operations in the Mediterranean.
The Bloomberg report said that the Turkish lira made additional gains against the dollar after this news, and the Istanbul Stock Exchange index rose 2% after the Turkish president's speech, and the shares of the Turkish oil refineries "Tupras" and "Petrokimya Holding" rose. ) By 8.1% and 9.9% respectively.
Last month, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmaz said that the Al-Fatih vessel had begun exploration in the "Tuna-1" area off the Turkish city of Eregli.
The Bloomberg report quoted Timothy Ash, a strategic expert at BlueBay Asset Management in London, as saying, "There have been discoveries in the Black Sea previously, but on a limited scale. Given the annual import costs of between 35 and 35%. To $ 50 billion, Turkey needs a major game-changing project. "
Projects in the Black Sea
The Bloomberg report indicated that Romania has had some projects to extract gas in the shallow waters of the Black Sea for years, but the main discovery made by the Romanian "OMV Petrom" company 8 years ago in deep waters has not been exploited until today.
Another company supervised by the American Carlyle Group is exploring in Romanian territorial waters with the aim of extracting gas within 2021, while the Russian company Rosneft has explored in Russian waters overlooking the Black Sea, to no avail.
Christoph Merkel, managing director of Merkel Energy Consulting, said, "I don't think it is surprising that there will be more discoveries in that region ... and countries like Bulgaria, Ukraine and Greece will be of the most interested in buying this gas if Turkey decides." Export it. "
"Based on the size of the discovery, I expect that imports through the Turk Stream line (the natural gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey) will decline," Merkel added, according to the Bloomberg report.
The Russian giant Gazprom had opened the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea to increase its share in the Turkish market and reduce dependence on Ukraine as a transit route for energy supplies.
Average tension
The Turkish discovery comes amid sharp regional disputes between it and Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, as Turkey insists on drilling in disputed waters. France has entered the crisis line and strengthened its military presence, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the European Union is concerned about the escalation of tension in the Mediterranean.
Ankara had resumed exploration operations in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea last week after it stopped its negotiations with Greece, with German mediation, after Athens announced an agreement to demarcate the maritime border with Egypt, in reaction to a similar agreement between Turkey and Libya.
Differences between Turkey and Cyprus over the maritime borders and gas reserves around the island are also increasing, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that European pressure will not discourage his country from continuing to explore for energy in the Mediterranean waters.
Yesterday, during his participation in the inauguration of a factory for solar energy technologies in the capital, Ankara, Erdogan said that no colonial power could deprive his country of oil and natural gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean, and Erdogan stressed that Turkey is determined to protect its rights in the eastern Mediterranean until the end.