Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 Feb. / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
Turkey will open and begin exploitation of wells that were previously mothballed due to their economic inadvisability, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday, Sabah newspaper reported.
The minister said that six wells located in south-eastern Turkey and preserved in the 1980's will be among the first to be opened.
"Since the time of preservation of these wells, oil prices rose by six times and we have decided to open them and begin operations," Yildiz said.
Turkey is actively searching for oil fields in order to reduce dependence on oil products from overseas. Earlier, in January this year reserves of high quality oil were discovered at the Magrip field in the Kurtalan district of the Siirt province of Turkey.
In 2011, following the launch of work by Nicosia (Cyprus) on development of the shelf along the island's coast divided into Greek and Turkish parts, Turkey together with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus began exploring for oil and gas in the special economic zone of Northern Cyprus.
In addition, the country is conducting oil exploration in the Black Sea and Mediterranean.