ISTANBUL – Turkey is accelerating plans to expand the overseas operations of its state energy company Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), with Somalia, Iraq, Libya and Oman emerging as key destinations in Ankara’s drive to boost oil and gas production.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said TPAO aims to raise its combined domestic and overseas oil and gas output to the equivalent of nearly 600,000 barrels per day by 2028, up from around 330,000 barrels currently.
Ankara has also set a longer-term target of one million barrels of oil equivalent per day for TPAO.
A significant share of the expected increase is projected to come from the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea. But TPAO is also expanding abroad, turning previous cooperation agreements into investment stakes, production-sharing contracts and direct drilling operations.
Somalia has emerged as a major part of the company’s overseas strategy. TPAO began offshore exploration after the seismic research vessel Oruç Reis spent 234 days surveying three offshore blocks, collecting 3D seismic data covering about 4,464 square kilometres.
The data is now being used to guide Turkey’s next phase of exploration in Somalia. TPAO’s drilling vessel Çağrı Bey is currently carrying out operations at the Curad-1 well off the Somali coast.
Bayraktar has described the project as Turkey’s first deepwater oil drilling operation outside its borders.
The Curad-1 well is located about 372 kilometres off the coast of Mogadishu, in waters reaching nearly 3,500 metres deep. The well is planned to reach a total depth of around 7,500 metres below the seabed.
The outcome of the Curad-1 drilling could determine the scale of TPAO’s future operations in Somalia. A successful result would potentially make Somalia one of the company’s most important sources of oil and gas production outside Turkey.
