Economy

Canada's Valeura plans to expand in Turkey's Thrace basin

Valeura Energy, a Canadian oil and gas exploration and production company, finds Turkish gas market lucrative, and plans to develop more assets in the Thrace basin

23.10.2014 - Update : 23.10.2014
Canada's Valeura plans to expand in Turkey's Thrace basin

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA

Valeura Energy Inc., a Canadian oil and gas exploration and production company, will develop more assets in the Thrace basin, northwest of Istanbul, according to the company's president.

Valeura Energy announced on October 7 that gas was discovered in three exploration wells, drilled on new 3D seismic in the Osmanli area, near Tekirdag, on the northern coast of the Sea of Marmara, 135 kilometers west of Istanbul. The find could potentially add six to seven million cubic feet (around 200,000 cubic meters) per day, or an increase of more than 40 percent to current productivity from the company's joint venture lands in the Thrace basin.

"Given our success to date, we would like to expand our natural gas operations in the Thrace basin," said Jim McFarland, president and chief executive officer of Valeura.

"Our budget is $35 to $40 million in 2014, on a gross basis between ourselves and our partners, for exploration and development in the Thrace Basin Natural Gas, TBNG, joint venture. I expect our budget and program for 2015 will be similar to this year," McFarland added.

Valeura currently holds a 40 percent share of the TBNG joint venture which encompasses 10 exploration licenses and production leases covering an area of more than 624,000 acres (2,527 square kilometers, gross).

Since Valeura's establishment in 2010, it has acquired interests in 14 production leases and exploration licenses in Turkey, totaling 1 million acres (4,072 square kilometers, gross) or 0.43 million acres (1,755 square kilometers, net). 

"We have built an attractive natural gas business in Turkey and we would like to grow it.  We had really good success in applying new technologies in Turkey – 3D seismic, horizontal drilling and multistage fracturing. We believe there is excellent potential in Turkey to grow oil and gas volumes, particularly unconventional tight gas, tight oil and shale plays, so we continue to focus our business on Turkey," he said.

Valeura’s corporate sales in the second quarter of 2014 amounted to 167,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day from the Thrace basin while it has 266 million cubic meters of proven reserves, according to the company's data.

McFarland explained that the TBNG joint venture also has a natural gas distribution license and the company sells natural gas directly to about 55 light industries in the Tekirdag area. Valeura, therefore is a company which has a full cycle business exploring, producing and distributing natural gas direct to end users in the area of Turkey.

 "Gas prices are very attractive in Turkey. They are three times the level in North America. It’s therefore a very attractive business for us being both a producer and distributor of natural gas in Turkey," he said.

He added that the company needs to achieve continued exploration success in finding new reserves, and believes the geology in this region of Turkey is very prospective to achieving continued success.

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