BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 24
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey has extended the license for exploration of oil and gas deposits of Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), the ministry told Trend.
In order to extend the license for more 10 years, the TPAO has appealed to the ministry on March 23, 2020, noted the energy ministry.
The TPAO will conduct oil and gas exploration in Diyarbakir province on the territory with a total area of 42,201 hectares, the ministry said.
In 2019, exploratory drilling operations for searching hydrocarbons were carried out in Turkey, 5,063 exploration wells were drilled.
The total depth of exploratory drilling operations conducted last year surpassed 9.5 million meters.
Around 3,048 exploration wells with a total penetration of over 6.1 million meters were drilled by the TPAO.
Some 104 wells with a total depth of 133,386 meters were drilled by the organizations of the Mineral Research and Exploration General Directorate (MTA), 257 wells with a total penetration of 311,662 meters - by other Turkish companies.
Foreign companies drilled 1,312 exploratory wells with a total depth of 2.4 meters, and joint ventures and consortiums - 342 wells.
According to the ministry, 510 deposits were discovered by the TPAO during 2019, 8 deposits – by the MTA, 24 deposits – by other domestic companies, 306 deposits – by foreign companies, and 93 deposits - by joint consortiums.
In April 2014, a law came into force in Turkey that allowed conducting oil exploration in forests and national parks.
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