Turkey’s Energy Transformation: From Marginal Reserves to Black Sea and Gabar Oil Booms
oil
Once a quiet southeastern town known mainly for modest oil activity and basic hotels packed with oil workers, Kahta is now part of a much bigger story: Turkey’s rapid rise in domestic energy production. This surge, driven by recent oil and gas discoveries, is reshaping Ankara’s longstanding dependence on imports and boosting national energy security.
Turkey’s Historic Energy Dilemma
Geographically close to hydrocarbon-rich neighbours like Iran and Iraq, Turkey has long struggled with limited domestic fossil fuel supplies. With one of the largest populations in Europe and harsh winter conditions, Turkey is the fourth-largest consumer of gas and sixth-largest consumer of oil on the continent.
Historically, its own reserves were scattered and small—a trickle of oil from fields near Diyarbakır and Kahta, and modest gas deposits near Istanbul in the Thrace and Black Sea regions. Disputes with Iraq over the Kurdish region’s pipeline have cut off reliable crude supplies, while two-thirds of Turkey’s oil now comes from Russia, which is exempt from EU sanctions in Ankara’s case.
Turning Point: The Gabar Mountains Oil Find
In 2021, state-run Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) made a major breakthrough with the Gabar Mountains oil discovery in Şırnak province. With estimated reserves of 150 million barrels, this was no Gulf-scale find—but a game-changer for Turkey. The light crude discovered here is also of higher quality than Turkey’s older heavy oil fields.
Production has since more than doubled, rising from 60,000 to over 130,000 barrels per day, still a fraction of the country’s 1.1 million bpd consumption but a significant milestone. Several more promising fields have emerged in the same region, which may evolve into Europe’s top onshore oil-producing area.
Further boosting prospects, U.S. oil major Continental Resources signed a recent deal with TPAO to explore shale resources in the Diyarbakır Basin, potentially unlocking 6.1 billion barrels. The dissolution of PKK militant activity, once a major security concern, is expected to ease field operations.
Gas: The Real Game-Changer
While oil grabs headlines, it’s natural gas that truly redefines Turkey’s energy outlook. In 2020, Turkey announced the discovery of the Sakarya gas field in the western Black Sea, located in deep, cold, and complex geological waters.
The find, followed by additional wells and expansions, now amounts to 25 trillion cubic feet of estimated reserves, according to recent government figures. The Goktepe-3 well, announced just last month, added another 2.6 trillion cubic feet to this tally.
Production at Sakarya is steadily increasing, with 14 billion cubic metres per year expected by 2028. By 2030, these offshore gas fields could cover nearly 30% of Turkey’s domestic demand, which stood at 45 billion cubic metres last year.
Strategic Implications and Future Outlook
Turkey’s domestic coal remains carbon-heavy, while its renewable energy expansion and Rosatom-built nuclear plant have faced delays. In the meantime, Ankara has been reliant on Russian, Iranian, and Azerbaijani gas, exposing it to geopolitical volatility and sanctions-related risks.
Now, Turkey’s evolving energy map is changing that equation. With Black Sea gas, Gabar oil, and new shale potential, Ankara is reducing external dependency, improving energy security, and reshaping its geopolitical leverage.
Although these developments won’t disrupt global oil or gas markets, they are highly consequential for Turkey—economically, strategically, and diplomatically.
