BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 19
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has extended the license of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) for exploration of oil and gas deposits, the ministry told Trend on June 19.
TPAO appealed to the ministry on February 18, 2020 to renew the license for ten more years.
"TPAO will conduct oil and gas exploration in Diyarbakir and Mardin provinces on a total area of 91,900 hectares," the ministry said.
Some 5,063 exploratory wells were drilled during oil exploration operations conducted in Turkey in 2019.
The total depth of exploratory drilling operations exceeded 9.5 million meters in the reporting year.
“The Turkish Petroleum Corporation drilled 3,048 exploratory wells with a total depth of more than 6.1 million meters,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the organizations of Turkey’s Mineral Research and Exploration General Directorate (MTA) drilled 104 wells with a total depth of 133,386 meters; and 257 wells with a total penetration of 311,662 meters were drilled by the country’s other companies.
Some 1,312 exploratory wells with a total depth of over 2.2 million meters were drilled by foreign companies, and 342 wells by joint ventures and consortia.
From January through December 2019, TPAO identified 510 deposits, MTA - eight, other Turkish companies - 24, foreign companies - 306, and joint consortia - 93 fields.
The law allowing oil exploration in forests and national parks came into force in Turkey in April 2014.
(1 USD = 6.8181 TRY on June 19)
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