Turkish Energy Minister Believes Black Sea Gas To Be Available For Consumption In Spring

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2023) Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez said on Wednesday that he expected the country's citizens to start consuming gas from the Black Sea in late April or early May.

"Thousands of our workers went to the quake-hit region. Now they have returned and continue their work from the place where they left off ... Due to the earthquakes, there were short-term interruptions, but, God willing, we will supply gas to our citizens at the end of April or beginning of May," Donmez was quoted by Turkish broadcaster TRT Haber as saying.

In 2020, Turkey discovered a large Black Sea gas field, later named Sakarya, whose reserves are estimated at 540 billion cubic meters (19 trillion cubic feet).

Ankara also discovered a new gas reserve off its Black Sea coast late last year. Together with the revised deposits at the Sakarya field, the country's offshore gas reserves stand at 710 billion cubic meters, an equivalent of $1 trillion on the global market.

In February, two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6 hit the southeastern regions of Turkey at a nine-hour interval. The underground shocks followed by hundreds of aftershocks were felt in 11 Turkish provinces and in the neighboring countries, with Syria being affected the most. Over 46,000 people have been confirmed dead in the disaster in Turkey alone, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Thousands more died in Syria.