Türkiye boosted its estimate of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea by nearly a third, thanks to appraisal work at an existing field and a separate discovery, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday.

The nation now predicts its offshore fields hold around 710 billion cubic meters of gas, a significant boost as it tries to diversify away from imports that meet nearly all of the domestic consumption.

The increase comes mainly from the Sakarya field where reserves are now seen at 652 billion cubic meters, up from 540 billion cubic meters previously, Erdogan said in Ankara. The revision was the outcome of an appraisal project by an international energy company, Erdogan said without naming it.

Another 58 billion cubic meters of gas was found in another offshore field nearby.

“This new discovery will open the door for new ones. We’ll start drilling new wells as soon as possible,” Erdoğan said in a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

Reserves in the Sakarya find, already the largest ever in the Black Sea, appear to be much larger than originally assumed. The revision also comes at a critical time for Erdoğan, who faces general elections in six months. Despite government subsidies, electricity and heating bills have soared in the past year, partly because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began in February. 

Turkish consumer inflation is running at a nearly quarter century high of over 84%, while energy prices have risen even faster. The government announced four rounds of natural gas price increases this year, straining household budgets and leading to widespread discontent. 

The Sakarya field will begin feeding gas into the Turkish grid from the first quarter of 2023. Before the latest reserves boost, officials expected the Black Sea find to meet about one third of Turkey’s domestic needs when peak production is achieved.

Under the original development plan, Türkiye projected inaugural gas output in 2023 at an annual pace of around 3.5 billion cubic meters. The objective is to raise that to about 15 billion cubic meters annually within four years of first production, roughly one quarter of the European Union’s current output.

Gazprom might cut gas transit through Ukraine next week

Putin expects to quickly form Turkish gas hub

Putin open to making Türkiye new gas hub