Turkey finds 6 billion barrel shale oil reserve in southeast
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Turkey eyes energy independence with 6.1B barrels of shale oil in Diyarbakir Basin, exceeding reserves of some OPEC nations.
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Crude oil tanker Orion I sails through the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkiye, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP)
US firm Continental Resources estimates 6.1 billion barrels of shale oil reserves in Turkiye's Diyarbakir Basin, says energy minister, and if confirmed, it would rank Turkey above OPEC members like Congo and Gabon as well as major producers such as the UK.
In March, Continental Resources and the Turkish national oil company TPAO entered into a joint venture agreement aimed at developing shale fields located in the basin.
"Turkiye's current annual (crude) oil import amounts to 365 million barrels. So a 6.1 billion barrel reserve is a great figure," Turkish Minister of Energy Alparslan Bayraktar told reporters during a visit to the Sirnak province in southeast Turkey.
The minister had earlier described the March agreement as "a new era," with Turkey considering shale oil and gas discoveries a crucial development, while Bayraktar stated that the country is targeting shale gas production from the northwestern Thrace region. "Shale oil and shale gas could be a game changer," he stated.
Last week, President Tayyip Erdogan revealed the discovery of a new 75 billion cubic metre (bcm) natural gas reserve during drilling operations in the Black Sea.
Turkey, which currently imports over 90% of its energy requirements, is striving to reduce its reliance on foreign energy sources and enhance supply security by investing in domestic energy resources while also strengthening international collaborations in oil and gas exploration.
Two years ago, just before the presidential elections, Turkey revealed its biggest onshore oil find to date, with an estimated 1 billion barrels of crude discovered in Sirnak, characterized by an API gravity of 41, indicating a lighter and more valuable grade compared to the country's existing oil production.
According to data from Turkey's energy ministry and regulator, the country's crude oil production in 2024 averaged 127,000 barrels per day (bpd), while its imports of oil and refined products reached nearly 1 million bpd, with energy regulator figures showing that discounted Russian crude and refined products made up approximately two-thirds of Turkey's total oil imports last year.
