The “Agreement on Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production between Turkey and Somalia” was signed with the participation of Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar and Somali Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Abdirizak Omar Mohamed.
Minister Bayraktar said in his speech at the ceremony:
As you all know, our country’s oil and gas exploration has made great progress over the past eight years. One of the key elements of the strategy that we launched in 2016, called the National Energy and Mining Policy, was the issue of Turkey’s own means and capabilities, its own fleet, Turkey’s own land and sea oil and gas exploration. Drilling ships, seismic survey ships, and Turkey as a country, occupies a very important position in this regard.
“Our oil production target in Gabar is 100,000 barrels per day.”
Today, Turkiye has become the country with the most important deep-sea fleet in the world. Turkish Oil continues to explore the oceans very intensively with four deep-sea drilling ships and two seismic exploration vessels. As you all know, as a result of these searches, Turkey has made very significant natural gas discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea and immediately after it in the Black Sea. In August 2020, we made the most important natural gas discovery in the history of the republic and in a very short time we reached the production stage, which will meet part of our country’s natural gas needs. Our company currently produces 5.5 million cubic meters daily from the Sakarya gas field. But, of course, we have made important discoveries not only in gas fields, but also in oil fields. In 2021, in September, production was increased by 45,000 barrels per day in 41 wells in Gabar. We aim to increase this production to 100,000 barrels as soon as possible, if possible.
“Turkey will have the authority to explore for oil and produce it if it is discovered.”
But our country’s needs are growing. Our country’s needs go far beyond this. For this reason, as I have said from time to time, Turkey will enter into a more active process through partnerships and cooperation, not only in exploration on our own land and sea, but also in the exploration of natural gas and oil in certain regions and in certain countries. I have used our own national oil and natural gas companies. Frankly, today we are witnessing an example of this. You can see that the inter-ministerial agreement that we concluded with Somalia in this venue on March 7, 2024, has become more concrete today. And I said it before. Somalia, and especially offshore Somalia, is an area that we consider to be a very important source of oil and natural gas. Our country has been entrusted with the mission of furthering our relations with the Somali State in line with the goals set by the President and the two Presidents, as befits two brotherly countries, and within this framework, we signed today an agreement on three blocks offshore Somalia. Our Turkish Petroleum General Manager signed this agreement on behalf of Turkey, so now we have three blocks in the Somali Sea, each block representing an area of 5,000 square kilometers. If we make a discovery, Turkey will have exclusive rights to explore and produce oil here.
“We are sending our ship, the Oruci Reis, to Somalia.”
We have signed a production sharing agreement. Two of these blocks that we mentioned are three fields about 50 kilometers offshore, and the other one is 100 kilometers offshore. As a first step, we will be conducting seismic activity, three-dimensional seismic activity, in these areas. For this, we will be sending the Oruch Reis to this area, hopefully at the end of September or early October. They will be conducting a very important seismic survey there that will last for several months, and we hope that this work will lead to discoveries after drilling, according to the assessment that will come out as a result of this survey, and we hope that it will be a very important survey. It is a historic step for Somalia and for our country.
For these three fields, these three blocks that we have decided on, we will carry out drilling activities at a depth of about 2,000 meters, in some places 3,000 meters, and even 4,000 meters below the seabed. A total of 7 kilometers from the sea surface. Of course, to carry out such complex operations, you need serious experience. Thankfully, thanks to the developments within the framework of the strategy that we have mentioned since 2016, we are now in a position to carry out these activities with our own engineers, our own technical team and equipment. Hopefully, we will be able to achieve this in these blocks in Somalia.
Mr. Oruç Reis will leave for Somalia with a team of about 50 people. But this operation will not only be accompanied by Oruç Reis, but also five support ships. Of course, it would be correct to say that our Navy will also join these ships here. On this occasion, I hope that this signed agreement will be beneficial for both countries. I care very much. Of course, Somalia, as you know, we were in Niger yesterday. There we also signed an agreement on oil. But we would like to try, if possible, to make up for our shortcomings in this field with these activities that we will carry out in other regions and in other areas. I hope that this agreement will bring good things to our country and to the Somali people.
