12 December 2014, News Wires – Shell is reportedly set to start exploration off Turkey in the New Year under a $300 million investment together with the Ankara government.
The Anglo-Dutch explorer is looking to tap the country’s oil and gas prospectivity following discoveries in the Romanian basin with the drilling effort set to kick off in the western Black Sea in January, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Turkey would have a 50% interest in the exploration joint venture with Shell.
“Our seismic data indicate that drilling in this basin would be accurate, given the indications,” Yildiz said.
Turkish vessel Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa has recently carried out a 3D seismic survey over a 1540 square-kilometre area off Turkey’s north-west coast.
Yildiz also said that a planned Russian gas export pipeline does not necessarily mean Turkey will buy more supplies.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom now intends to build a second subsea gas pipeline to Turkey with annual throughput capacity of 63 billion cubic metres, having scrapped plans to build the South Stream route that would have had a similar capacity.
The existing Blue Stream pipe already delivers up to 16 Bcm of Russian gas to the country.
Yildiz said Turkey may propose the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal on its border with Greece as part of its talks with Russia on the proposed pipeline.
“We have proposals on this and perhaps including an LNG terminal. The construction of an integrated energy complex could be on the table,” he said, adding the new pipeline “will not be a transit project”.
Meanwhile, Turkish oil refiner Tupras has started buying shipments of Iraqi oil after Baghdad reached a deal on exports with the Kurdistan Regional Government last week, according to Yildiz.
– Upstream
