Turkish gov't denies sharing volume of Black Sea gas find with Reuters

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez has said that the government did not share the volume of the natural gas reserves discovered in the Black Sea with Reuters. “If we had found 800 billion cubic meters, that would have been the amount that we announced,” Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez said on Aug. 25.

Tuesday August 25 2020 06:56 pm

Duvar English

The Turkish government has denied ever telling Reuters news agency that 800 billion cubic meters of natural gas was discovered in the Black Sea.

“We do not know who obtained this figure from where and who calculated it. We did not share it with anyone. If we had found 800 billion cubic meters, that would have been the amount that we announced,” Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez said on Aug. 25 on a TV program.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 19 promised to deliver "good news" on Aug. 21 that will herald a “new period” for Turkey.

On Aug. 20, Reuters reported that Turkey has found 800 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Black Sea, basing this information on two anonymous Turkish officials. Although the natural gas discovery really turned out to be the "good news," Erdoğan on Aug. 21 clarified the speculations about the volume of the discovery saying that it amounted to 320 billion cubic meters.

“The potential of the Sakarya gas field is obvious. We hope that we would reach those figures [of rumored 800 billion cubic meters] but it would not be very right to say something already from today,” Dönmez said.

Dönmez also said that the newly discovered gas field will be operated by Turkey's national oil company Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO). “The operation in these [gas] fields belong to us, we have no other partner. Now that we have discovered it, we know also how to extract the gas. The gas field will be operated by TPAO. No one should doubt about that,” he said.