Star - Türkiye’s search for alternative sources of energy to feed its growing economy and reduce oil and gas imports, which cost USD 60 billion a year, may take a new turn given new technologies that feasibly extract gas from shale formations and the existence of major shale gas reserves thought to be in the country’s southeastern and western regions.
In talks with US, British and Canadian companies to explore and extract gas from shale reserves in Türkiye, Turkish energy officials say a new deal can be reached with a major oil company within a year in addition to the exploration deal signed two years ago between Shell and Türkiye’s state-owned oil company TPAO to look for shale gas in the southeastern Anatolian province of Diyarbakir. The westernmost part of the country, Thrace, is also thought to have significant reserves of shale gas.
“While determining the size of Türkiye’s shale reserves at this early stage of exploration is not possible, there are encouraging indicators hinting at a sizeable reserve of shale gas in the country.”, said Yvonne Telford of the research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, adding that the existing oil/gas production and transportation infrastructure in Türkiye would prove a perfect match for probable shale oil/gas production.
There may be 13 trillion cubic meters of shale gas reserves in Türkiye, 1.8 trillion of which are recoverable, according to an estimate made by the Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists last year. Some industry officials state that the reserves may hold as much as 20 trillion cubic meters, citing data from international bodies.