Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that a new gas field with a reserve of 58 billion cubic meters has been discovered in the Caycuma-1 field in the Black Sea.

"Our drilling vessel Fatih has discovered 58 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves at a depth of 3,023 meters (9900 feet) under water," Erdogan said in his address to the nation after a cabinet meeting.

According to the Turkish President, the total volume of natural gas Turkey has discovered in the Black Sea now amounts to 710 billion cubic meters after a new field was located and a previous find was revised higher.

Erdogan also said that Turkey had revised an estimated volume in the Sakarya field to 652 billion cubic meters from the previous 540, adding that Turkey had drilled 13 wells in the field.

"As a result of the analysis of the data, we have revised the previously declared 540 billion cubic-meter reserve to 652 billion cubic meters," he said.

"With our new discovery at Caycuma-1, our gas reserve in the Black Sea has risen by 170 billion cubic meters to 710 billion cubic meters," the Turkish leader noted.

Last month, Erdogan indicated that Turkey is on track for the Sakarya gas field to go online in 2023.

It is noteworthy that Turkey is highly dependent on imports from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran, as well as LNG imports from Qatar, the United States, Nigeria, and Algeria for its gas.

In late November, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez pointed out that domestic production at the Sakaraya gas field is projected to play a significant role in Turkey's attempt to reduce reliance on gas imports by 30%.

Approximately, a $10 billion investment plan is put forward by Turkey for the operation in its exclusive Black Sea economic zone.

The Hurriyet Daily News quoted Donmez as saying that "when we start full production we will be using our own gas to cover 25-30% of our total needs. Our dependence on imports of natural gas from abroad will drop to 70%."