Türkiye Deepens Energy Ties with Russia Through Gas Exploration

Türkiye is currently surveying a Russian field for potential gas deposits, and will carry on with these efforts, the republic’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said.

"We are currently actively working on one field in Russia, and we plan to expand these activities," he noted, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

Türkiye wants to be more actively involved in exploration of oil and gas abroad in general, the minister said. "First of all, this is about countries where we currently have assets, production, and are operating. Those are Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea basin; there are two new offshore zones there, which we are interested in. Moreover, we are interested in fields in Iraq, in the north and in South Basra," Bayraktar said.

He also talked about plans to survey the country of Somalia for energy resources. "We added three onshore blocks to three offshore blocks in Somalia. On April 10, Turkish Petroleum signed a respective agreement, and we are starting onshore exploration in Somalia," the minister noted.

Moreover, a deal with Pakistan on offshore geological exploration activities has been signed, he added. Agreements on cooperation in the area of energy resources are planned to be signed with Bulgaria and Hungary. "We will probably finalize the work on the agreement next month. A foreign company in Bulgaria and Turkish Petroleum will sign an agreement on exploration of a field in the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone," the Turkish energy minister concluded.