Türkiye's first floating natural gas production platform has arrived after a 51-day voyage from Singapore and is expected to begin operations in the northern part of the country next year.
“This facility will double our current output from the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea," Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar stated at a ceremony in the Aegean province of Çanakkale on Friday, as reported by a local media outlet.
Current production will be increased to ten million cubic metres per day (mcm/d) initially, then to 20mcm/d, which will meet the natural gas needs of an additional 4.4 million households through the platform, said the minister.
The minister emphasised that this is not a ship but an industrial facility. According to Bayraktar, the “production base” measures 300m in length and 58m in width.
Following its processes at the port in Çanakkale, a city in north-western Türkiye, the platform will move to Filyos next year, where it will operate for the next two decades off the northern coast.
Bayraktar stated that the facility currently produces 6mcm/d of gas. The output is expected to increase to 10mcm/d by the first quarter of 2025, meeting approximately 7% of Türkiye's domestic consumption.
Bayraktar also mentioned plans to expand production capacity by adding a second floating platform in the project's third phase.
Additionally, he mentioned that Türkiye intends to conduct exploratory drilling in the Black Sea this year, with previous indications suggesting this activity could take place near the Black Sea province of Sinop.
