Turkish drillship discovered 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas in its territorial waters of Black Sea in last week. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made historic speech on August 21 on the occasion of Turkey’s victory in the energy policy.

Erdoğan said that the natural gas Turkey has found is the biggest discovery in the country’s history. He noted that data shows there is a strong possibility of other natural gas finds in the area.

The discovery of the natural gas field in the Black sea would have impacts on the economic and energy power of Turkey, while it would affect Turkey’s energy relations with Russia and Azerbaijan.

Rusif Huseynov, the head of Topchubashov Center, Baku-based think tank made comments to Eurasia Diary portal on Turkey’s breakthrough of finding natural gas field in the Black Sea.

Huseynov noted that the historic discovery may have a short-term impact on Turkey`s economic and energy power.

According to his view, the gas field`s confirmed reserves, 320 billion cubic meters, may be used as a tool to diminish Turkey`s dependence on Russia in the next decade.

“These reserves are not huge and even if all the reserves are extracted they will not be sufficient for domestic consumption,” Huseynov said.

“Many are sceptical that it can turn Turkey into an energy power and become competitive to Russian projects. Turkey may rely on Azerbaijani and Qatari, sometimes Iranian gas resources to fight its dependence on the import of Russian gas,” he added.

Rusif Huseynov also touched upon how the discovery of the natural gas field could affect the strong energy relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan.   

“I do not consider that the new gas field, Tuna-1, will negatively influence Azerbaijani-Turkish energy relations. Because even when the Turks start extracting natural gas from the new field (which is not going to happen before 2023), they will still need gas from outside sources to meet domestic demands,” Huseynov said.  

“Moreover, the lack of offshore experience of Turkish energy companies may necessitate the involvement of SOCAR in the Tuna-1 field and strengthen Azerbaijani-Turkish partnership in energy projects,” he added.

Rusif Huseynov is Director of Baku-based Topchubashov Center. His main interests are socio-political developments, frozen conflicts, ethnic minorities, in post-Soviet countries, while his focus areas mainly cover Eastern Europe, Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia.