Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz has said that the global energy giant Shell and Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) have begun exploration works for shale gas in the Saribugday-1 field near
Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
All the drilling activities will be paid for by Shell, while 70 percent of the oil and natural gas to be produced will belong to TPAO and 30 percent to Shell.
The minister underlined that, thanks to cooperation between Shell and TPAO, oil exploration technology used worldwide will be introduced to
Turkey. Shell CEO Peter Voser said that the exploration works will contribute to
Turkey's economy and energy needs.
Shale gas reserves have been found in
Turkey in Thrace, Erzurum and Diyarbakir, with these locations estimated to have reserves equivalent to 500 billion barrels of oil and 20 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
Turkey is heavily dependent on foreign resources in terms of oil supplies. It imports 90 percent of its oil needs, while the remaining 10 percent is met by domestic sources.