Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Güler informed on plans to begin natural gas production in Akçakoca of the Western Black Sea region by the end of the year. He said that the recent search efforts by the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO) proved fruitful, Trend reports.
GГјler said at a presentation he made at the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission during the negotiations for the annual budget for the Energy Ministry that natural gas was found at 9 out of the 13 wells drilled in the Thrace as of September, with an expected 700,000 cubic meters of daily production (255.5mln cu m a year) at these sites.
GГјler said that 22 billion cubic meters of natural gas were imported at the end of September, 3.6 billion cubic meters of which was natural gas equivalent LNG, and 56 percent of that was used for electricity generation, 22 percent for houses, 21 percent for the industry and 1 percent for the fertilizer sector.
GГјler said that the end of the year figure for natural gas imports was projected at a total of 27 billion cubic meters. It is expected that the total production will rise to 100,000 barrels per day in 2008 with a rapid increase in international production as the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline becomes online. The crude oil production by the TPAO in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in 2006 exceeded the domestic production, he said.