Gaza International Experience Report

Discussions about the trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves said to be in the Black Sea, “do they exist or not?”, were high on the agenda. Reserves that have been found for years have once again been the subject of controversy. Melih Han Bilgin, General Manager of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), announced that the reserve in question was approved by an international appraisal company.

710 BILLION CUBIC METERS

Bilgin, who opened the doors of the Filyos facility, where domestic natural gas expected to be extracted at the end of March will be processed, to journalists including SÖZCÜ, said the reserves they found were tested and approved by international appraisal. DeGolyer & MacNaughton firm. Stating that they don’t trust themselves or have an evaluation done by a foreign company because of their inferiority complex, Bilgin said, “We trust ourselves. We don’t need a confirmation report at all. However, we receive the report so that if we enter into an international investment in the future, we have it ready. There is a lot of demand for a partnership, but we are not considering a partnership at this time,” he said. General Manager Bilgin stated that the producible part of the reserve was 710 billion cubic meters in approximately 35 years, and made the following assessment regarding the good pre-election news:

“The debates about whether or not there is gas make us sad. We do everything that needs to be done scientifically in the industry. We performed 2,885 downhole tests and long-term flow tests. We take out the gas, we burn it on the surface of the sea. We have nothing to do with the electoral agenda. Our goal is to eliminate dependence on natural gas from Turkey. This process should be outside of Turkey’s political affairs. Of course, the work done will produce daily political results. However, we don’t have an agenda like ‘There will be an election, let’s find a discovery immediately and explain’.

Opening the doors of the Zonguldak Filyos facility to journalists, TPAO General Manager Melih Han Bilgin (right) is our Erdoğan correspondent.
He answered Süzer’s questions.

Gas imports decrease by 1,000 million dollars per month

Melih Han Bilgin said that with domestic gas production at full capacity, monthly natural gas imports of US$8 billion will decrease by US$1 billion to about US$7 billion. Noting that the resources produced by all the factories and hotels in Turkey go towards natural gas imports to the tune of $100 billion annually, Bilgin said: “There is a bleeding wound. That is why we work day and night with all our might. We’re not trying to pump up the gas on the election, we’re trying to bandage the bleeding wound. Hopefully we could bring the gas in 2022,” he said. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez said Black Sea gas will be in the system in March and 10 million cubic meters a day will be produced first .

“We are the masters of the Black Sea”

Melih Han Bilgin said that the deep-sea drilling and the facility established in Filyos made Turkey an important country in this field and they received appointment requests from various countries around the world to see the operational performance. Bilgin said: “Currently, there is no country or organization that knows the Black Sea better than we do, that knows the geology of the Black Sea better than we do, that drills more cheaply, quickly and accurately than we do. We can say that we are the masters of the Black Sea. Turkish science, Turkish oil is the master of the Black Sea,” he said.