Turkish Petroleum made a second discovery in the lower section of Tuna-1 well adding another 85 billion cubic meters (bcm) lean gas to its Sakarya find and the largest seismic acquisition in the Black Sea is to start in November with the aim to explore the potential in the broader basin, a statement said Saturday.
Turkey announced in Aug. 21 that Fatih drillship discovered 320 bcm natural gas in the Tuna-1 location in Sakarya Gas Field.
Tuna-1 discovery is now updated as 405 bcm and two appraisal wells are yet to follow with well tests, the statement said.
'Sakarya 3D, the largest seismic acquisition in the Black Sea, is to start in November, with the aim to explore the potential in the broader basin,' also said in the statement.
TPAO stated that Tuna-1 ultra-deep water exploration well in the block, now called Sakarya Gas Field, is 100% TPAO equity, drilled with 6th generation drillship Fatih.
Fatih drilled 2,117 meters of water depth and reached a total depth of 4,775 meters, encountered additional 30 meters of gas bearing reservoir in Early Pliocene-Late Miocene sands, according to the statement.
Tuna-1 location is one of the largest gas finds in 2020 in the world.
The statement said that this exploration success will provide a major boost to Turkey's economic growth by supplying natural gas for decades.
'TPAO, restructuring the supply chain strategy with favorable oil and gas cyclical factors, restored robust health in deep water operations. Accordingly, unit costs are down with tremendous improvement in drilling, subsea and completion technologies,' Melih Han Bilgin, TPAO's Chairman and CEO was quoted as saying in the statement.
He continued: 'Indeed, the success of the 405 bcm lean gas discovery in the Sakarya field arises mainly from the operational sufficiency, competency, well planned logistic services, and cost-efficiency, presenting one of the strongest project economics regionally.'
Bilgin also pointed out that while channeling capital, the development of the field will be stimulating operational and technological know-how, besides creating an ecosystem for local suppliers and R&D facilities that can compete globally.
'Sakarya field will be the first game changer and hopefully will be followed by other discoveries in Eastern Black Sea and Mediterranean,' he concluded.
TPAO plans to drill two appraisal wells back to back in a shortwhile with the drillship Fatih, while Turkey's 3rd drillship Kanuni will be carrying out the well tests.
The first production from the Sakarya Gas Field is planned to start by 2023.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr