Turkey has discovered new natural gas deposits in the Black Sea. The discovery of 135 billion cubic meters of gas at the Amasra-1 offshore well brings the total amount of deposits discovered over the past year to 540 billion cubic meters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday from the Black Sea city of Zonguldak.
State energy company Tpao intends to recover the gas on its own, without the help of outside investors, according to reports.
Turkey uses about 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually, most of it imported. The new discoveries of natural gas could allow Turley to become less dependent on gas imports.
Turkey had begun to search for natural gas in water claimed by Cyprus and Greece, leading to a regional crisis. But Turkey halted its search and has held talks with Greece in recent months.