ISTANBUL, May 29. /TASS/. Turkey has evolved from being solely an energy importer into a potential hub for energy exports, Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan said talking to reporters from his press corps.

"Every success that we achieve in the energy sector is not only an economic gain but also a strategic one. The discovery of 75 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Black Sea is the result of our intensive and systematic work. Turkey has transformed not just into a country that imports energy resources, but one that produces them — and now, a potential exporter," the Anadolu agency quotes Erdogan as saying.

"We see the difficult energy position EU countries have found themselves in after the Russian-Ukrainian war, it is very bad. So that we don’t fall into the same situation, we are taking decisive steps toward our goal of reducing external dependence on strategic resources such as natural gas," Erdogan noted.

According to Erdogan, Turkey’s discovery of new energy fields is positioning the country as a regional leader in the sector.

"With our country at the crossroads of major energy transit routes, and with increased natural gas production, Turkey will become not just a transit hub, but also a center for pricing, storage, and trade," the Turkish leader explained.

"On April 1, gas was delivered from Turkmenistan to Turkey for the first time in 27 years. We receive many requests for natural gas from European leaders, who call us from time to time during our foreign visits. We have started exporting natural gas to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia. After our visit to Pakistan in February, our colleagues went to Pakistan, where Pakistani state companies and Turkish Petroleum agreed to explore two onshore fields in that country. Today, we have reached an agreement on offshore exploration, which will begin soon. We will also intensify and continue these activities together with Libya and other countries," Erdogan said.