Turkey’s national oil company, Turkish Petroleum Corp. (TPAO), has formed a joint venture (JV) with Oklahoma-based Continental Resources and TransAtlantic Petroleum to explore and produce unconventional oil and gas in the Diyarbakir basin in southeastern Turkey and the Thrace basin in the country’s northwest.
Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar called the JV a significant step toward reducing Turkey’s reliance on energy imports by opening “a new era in exploration” in an announcement on the social media platform X on 12 March.
Continental Resources ranks among the top 10 US independent oil producers and is the largest leaseholder and producer in Bakken shale, according to the company’s website. Continental is also positioned in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin, the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, and the Permian Basin in Texas.
CEO Doug Lawler told Reuters that Continental sees “immense potential” in Turkey’s untapped energy reserves.
For TransAtlantic Petroleum, the JV offers a chance to expand in a country where it has operated for 17 years.
TransAtlantic is executing a horizontal drilling program in the Molla area. The company has made discoveries in the Mardin and Bedinan zones and believes there are fractured carbonates present across the area. Initial vertical discoveries have been improved through horizontal drilling, and a 3D seismic survey is underway to identify additional opportunities in the Molla area, according to their website.
The company is also redeveloping the Selmo field, which has historically been its largest producing field in Turkey. It believes it has identified the undepleted fault blocks in Selmo and will focus redevelopment efforts on those areas with plans to drill horizontal wells in the most-productive formation in the field.
Turkey’s Expanding Energy Ambitions
Turkey plans to drill 153 oil exploration wells in 2025, focusing on the Gabar region in the Diyarbakir basin near the Turkey-Syria border, Bayraktar said, as tensions with Kurdish forces in the Diyarbakir region have recently eased.
In March, Turkey’s domestic oil production reached 132,000 B/D. Internationally, TPAO been collaborating with Azerbaijan, Somalia, and Russia, according to Turkey’s Daily Sabah news outlet which also reported that TPAO CEO Ahmet Türkoğlu signaled in January that exploration blocks in Libya could be added to the list.
TPAO estimates recoverable reserves could reach 6 billion bbl of oil and 12–20 Tcf of gas in the Diyarbakir basin and 20–45 Tcf in the Thrace basin.
Turkey has made significant finds in the Garbar Mountain Range along its border with Iraq, as well as significant gas discoveries in the Black Sea. With its extensive pipeline network connecting Europe and Asia, the country is well-positioned to handle future gas flows, either for domestic consumption or export.
Turkey’s Black Sea Jewel
Bayraktar was in Houston in March for the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference where he was interviewed by Anadolu Ajansi, Turkey’s official state media. Noting that approximately 7.5 million m3 of gas is extracted daily from the deepwater Sakarya gas field in the Black Sea, he said, “We will increase this to 9.5 million m3 next month and 20 million m3 2026. This will ensure that 15% of our domestic need will come from Sakarya gas. By 2030, 30% of our gas needs will come from Sakarya.”
Critical to doubling the field’s gas production by 2026 is the country’s first floating, production, storage, and offloading vessel, which arrived in September 2024. Acquired from BW Offshore and now undergoing preparations in Çanakkale, it will be deployed 170 km offshore in the Sakarya field in 2026 under a 20-year contract.
Discovered in 2020, Sakarya boasts estimated gas reserves of 710 Bcm.
Ashley Sherman, research director, Caspian and Europe Upstream Oil and Gas at Wood Mackenzie, called Sakarya a game changer that will cover almost 30% of Turkey’s gas consumption by 2030.
Turkey Aims To Become a Regional Hub for LNG
Turkey has ambitions to become a regional hub and major exporter of LNG itself over time, considering it is crossed by seven international gas pipelines and claims five of its own LNG facilities, three floating storage and regasification units, and two underground natural gas storage facilities.
As part of its strategy to become a regional gas hub, it has recently signed long-term LNG supply agreements with major energy companies.
ExxonMobil signed a long-term LNG sales agreement in May 2024 with the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) in which BOTAŞ committed to buying up to 2.5 mtpa of LNG for 10 years from ExxonMobil.
In September 2024, TotalEnergies signed a Heads of Agreement with BOTAŞ for the delivery of 1.1 mtpa of LNG for 10 years starting from 2027.
BOTAŞ signed another 10-year LNG supply agreement in September 2024. The deal with Shell International Trading Middle East committed BOTAŞ to buying up to 4 Bcm of LNG per year from Shell’s US and global portfolio, with deliveries starting in 2027.
