Türkiye is in talks to jointly develop its Black Sea gas field with Azerbaijan, in return for exploration and development of Azeri hydrocarbons in the Caspian Sea, the chief executive of Türkiye’s oil and gas developer TPAO said on Wednesday.
“TPAO actually wants to act together with (Azerbaijan’s) SOCAR in its open seas. We are negotiating on this,” TPAO Chief Executive Melih Han Bilgin told reporters before an energy forum in Baku, set to be held on Thursday.
“TPAO can do business with SOCAR in Türkiye, in return it can do business with SOCAR in the Caspian Sea.”
Asked whether and how TPAO would partner with SOCAR on the Sakarya gas field project in the Black Sea, Bilgin replied, “(It could be) joint production, development, exploration.”
Türkiye’s only large-scale gas find, the deep water Sakarya field, is expected to begin production this year.
Initial production of 3.5 bcm (billion cubic metres) is expected to ramp up to between 15 and 16 bcm, around a quarter of national consumption, over the next few years. TPAO is also prospecting seas around the field for new sources.
TPAO also owns a 19% stake in Shah Deniz, one of Azerbaijan’s main gas fields, and it has a 6% stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field.
