BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 27. Drilling teams at Turkmenistan’s Goturdepe drilling department exceeded their eight-month drilling target by more than 36%.
This was announced in a report published by the press service of the Turkmen government on September 22.
According to the report, drilling crews of the Nebitgazburawlayysh trust drilled 45,199 meters during the first eight months of 2026, compared with a planned 33,196 meters.
"The actual drilling volume was therefore 12,003 meters above the target. Of the total drilling volume, 33,363 meters were for production wells and 11,836 meters for exploration and appraisal drilling," the report noted.
Trend's calculations show that production drilling accounted for 73.8% of the total actual drilling volume, while exploration and appraisal drilling accounted for the remaining 26.2%.
The 33,363 meters of production drilling also exceeded the original overall drilling target of 33,196 meters by 167 meters, or around 0.5%, according to Trend's calculations.
The Goturdepe drilling department operates under Turkmennebit State Concern in the Balkan region, where the concern's production structures are involved in the exploration and development of oil and gas fields.
The scale of drilling at Goturdepe comes against the backdrop of strong production from the field. Turkmennebit reported that Goturdepe had produced 825,247 tons of crude oil since the beginning of 2026 by mid-September, exceeding its production target by 12% and representing the highest output among the concern’s production units. Daily production at the field had earlier been reported at more than 3,400 tons.
The combination of production drilling and exploration therefore appears to serve two parallel objectives: maintaining high output from a mature producing base while extending its productive potential. This is reflected in the commissioning of new wells, including a well at Eastern Goturdepe reported to produce 38.7 tons of oil per day, alongside exploration of deeper horizons and additional drilling. The figures suggest that Turkmenistan is using intensive drilling not only to replace or expand producing capacity at Goturdepe, but also to support further development of the field as production remains at a high level.
