Presidency of Republic of Turkey : “The natural gas reserves in the Tuna-1 zone of the Sakarya field have reached 405 billion cubic meters in total”

In a speech following his inspections on board the Fatih drilling vessel, President Erdoğan said: 'We already broke the good news to our nation back on August 21 that 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves had been discovered. As a result of the tests, analyses and detailed engineering works, 85 billion cubic meters have further been added to the reserves we already discovered. Therefore, the natural gas reserves in the Tuna-1 zone of the Sakarya field have reached 405 billion cubic meters in total.'

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech following his inspections on board the Fatih drilling vessel, which is currently on an exploration mission in the Black Sea.

Noting that he is on board the Fatih drilling vessel both to congratulate its crew and to announce the newly-discovered reserves, President Erdoğan recalled the good news he had shared with the nation back on August 21 according to which 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves had already been discovered as a result of the works conducted by the Fatih, which had started drilling at the Tuna-1 well on July 20, and he stated that the vessel, which carries on with its drilling activities, has reached a depth of 4 thousand 445 meters.

'THE FATIH WILL MOVE ITS ACTIVITIES TO TÜRKALI-1 WELL STARTING FROM NEXT MONTH'

'As a result of the tests, analyses and detailed engineering works, 85 billion cubic meters have further been added to the reserves we already discovered. Therefore, the natural gas reserves in the Tuna-1 zone of the Sakarya field have reached 405 billion cubic meters in total. The works in this well were finalized as previously planned when a depth of 4 thousand 775 meters was reached,' the President stated.

Saying that the Fatih drilling vessel will move its drilling activities to the Türkali-1 well, which is also in the Sakarya field, after its ongoing maintenance, restocking and technical preparations at Filyos Port are completed, President Erdoğan noted: 'We hope to receive good news also from the Türkali-1 well very shortly. We will transfer the 405 billion cubic meters of natural gas which we have discovered at the Tuna-1 well to our lands by means of the platform to be set up here and will integrate it with the system that serves all of our country.'

Underlining that the goal is to put the newly-discovered natural gas in the service of the people, President Erdoğan said: 'Turkey will have thus attained the largest hydrocarbon reserves in its history. We will, inshallah, further expand this reserves with the good news we will receive from the new drillings in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.'

'WE ARE IN FAVOR OF MAINTAINING AND FURTHERING OUR LONG-STANDING TIES WITH EUROPE'

Regarding the Eastern Mediterranean, President Erdoğan said: 'The way to making peace, serenity and stability prevail in the Eastern Mediterranean is to respect, recognize and acknowledge the rights of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Other than that, we will not give in to any banditry or tricks that reach the level of comedy. It is the EU itself that sustains the greatest damage as a result of it being, so-to-speak, hostage to Greece and the Greek Cypriot side in this matter.'

'Unless the EU displays a fair stance towards the ongoing disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean, this will actually spell its own end. The EU, which flails about in the swamp of racism and Islamophobia and gets weaker with Brexit, cannot bear the burden of getting sidelined regarding the fair sharing of natural resources,' further stressed the President, and added: 'Despite all, we are in favor of maintaining and furthering our long-standing political, economic and cultural ties with Europe.'