Turkey Plans to Increase Oil Production to One Million Barrels Per Day

Istanbul, Oct 17 (KUNA) -- Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar announced on Saturday that his country intends to increase its oil production through the state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) to 550,000 barrels per day by 2028, and subsequently to one million barrels per day.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the deployment of the floating production, storage, and offloading vessel "Osman Ghazi" to its operating site in the Black Sea's Sakarya gas field, Bayraktar said, "Our national company has doubled its production to approximately 300,000 barrels, thanks to the exploration of new fields over the past five years. By 2028, we will raise this figure to 550,000 barrels, and we hope to reach our target of one million barrels per day. We continue our exploration for new gas and oil fields in the Black Sea."

He added that Turkey is actively conducting geological exploration operations not only domestically but also abroad, emphasizing "active efforts to explore oil in Somalia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Sultanate of Oman, and Libya."

According to Bayraktar, Turkey simultaneously plans to increase proven gas reserves in the Sakarya field and continue drilling operations in other areas of the Black Sea, as well as in southeastern Turkey, in search of new natural gas and oil deposits.

He noted that "Turkey currently possesses six deepwater drilling vessels, two seismic survey vessels, and support ships, ranking fourth globally in terms of energy fleet size." He expressed his commitment to making Turkey a regional leader and a global player in this sector, leveraging its technical and engineering capabilities. (End)