TPAO discovers natural gas in Black Sea

Turkish national oil company Turkish Petroleum Corp. (TPAO) and subsidiary Turkish Petroleum Offshore Technology Center (TP-OTC) have discovered natural gas in the western Black Sea. In line with the geological and reservoir engineering evaluations, the company estimates natural gas potential of 75 bcm at Göktepe-3 field.

The Göktepe-3 well was drilled at a water depth of 2,154 m with the Abdülhamid Han drillship within the borders of Turkey's Exclusive Economic Zone in deep waters of the Western Black Sea, the company noted in a release earlier this week. Following 49 days of drilling, log and test operations in the well, a final depth (MD) of 3,500 m was reached.

A plan for development includes use of the floating production platform (FPU-2), onshore facility, and distribution infrastructure already established for Sakarya gas field, which will increase the economic and operational efficiency of the project, TPAO said.