Middle East: Turkey

MIDDLE EAST

Turkey

Electrical energy demand in Turkey is growing 10% annually. This year, electrical energy demand is projected to reach 130 billion kWh. Much of the increase will be met by natural gas-fired plants. Thus, the best hope for Turkey’s upstream sector seems to be natural gas, production of which is increasing.

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Exploration. State oil company TPAO and U.S. firm El Paso Natural Gas signed an agreement in mid-July 2000, to explore for natural gas offshore Iskenderun and Mersin in the far eastern Mediterranean Sea. The companies will conduct seismic work in shallow and deeper waters of the tracts, beginning in August 2000. This initial project should conclude by the end of 2000, with up to 625 mi of 2-D seismic acquired. Two wells are slated for drilling in mid-2001.

Meanwhile, TPAO in August 1999 began exploring for oil in Askale township of the Erzurum region. Target depth for exploratory wells in this project was 8,200 to 9,020 ft.

Drilling/development. The number of wells drilled fell 24% last year, and footage was off 41%. This year, the outlook is not any better, with only 30 wells expected.

In August 1999, Aladdin Petroleum’s Zeynel 12 well tested 1,000 bpd of 24°API crude from the Mardin carbonate reservoir. Zeynel 12 was the eleventh productive well out of 12 drilled in Zeynel field, in southeastern Turkey. Zeynel 12 was expected to follow the pattern of the field’s other wells, which had initial declines from tested output but then had periods of sustained production at lower levels.

Despite some exploratory success in southeastern Turkey, the country’s drilling rate is expected to drop another 12% this year. (Photo courtesy of TPAO, Turkish Petroleum)

Production. Combined crude and condensate output averaged 56,262 bpd, down 9%. Condensate comprised less than 1% of the total, although such output nearly doubled last year, to 352 bpd. TPAO said that 47.5% of all oil production came from 160 wells in Adiyaman province of east-central Turkey. Nationwide, natural gas output jumped 37% higher, to 70.7 MMcfd. The large increase is credited to new fields that went onstream in the northern Marmara region.

During July 2000, TPAO General Director Osman Demirag told the local media in Ankara that natural gas production at the North Marmara platform would stop at the end of 2000. Production of 42.4 MMcfgd will end, due to technical reasons. TPAO plans to convert the site offshore Silivri into a natural gas storage facility that would operate until the end of 2003.