ANKARA, October 6. /TASS/. Turkey did not experience major challenges with gas supplies as Europe did because of the situation around the conflict in Ukraine owing to the operation of the TurkStream gas pipeline, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"We are working on diversifying gas sources. Having one single source of supplies and a single logistical route carries serious risks. Our European friends experienced these difficulties firsthand in the first months of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Owing to the TurkStream, we were one of the countries that passed through that period with the smallest losses," Erdogan said at the energy efficiency forum in Istanbul.
The country "has implemented strategic projects to produce energy resources and is launching projects phase by phase, which will turn Turkey into an international energy hub and a corridor for energy resources," the Turkish leader said. "We diversified our suppliers in energy segments where we have external dependence. There were five countries from which we sourced natural gas in 2003. Botas company is now working in the sphere of gas imports and exports to 34 countries," Erdogan noted. "First volumes of Turkmen gas" were received in Turkey this March as part of diversification measures and "this volume has reached 465 mln cubic meters to date," he added.
"The largest discovery of natural gas was made five years ago in the Black Sea, with reserves of 785 million billion cubic meters," Erdogan said when speaking about oil and gas production in Turkey. "We now cover the needs of 4 mln households with this gas. This figure will reach eight million in 2026 and sixteen million in 2028," the president said.
Turkey receives 160,000 barrels of oil per day from domestic sources, Erdogan stressed. "Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go in this regard. We expanded our [seismic and drilling] fleet. We accelerated seismic prospecting and drilling operations. We now have four drilling and two seismic exploration ships and we rank fifth globally in this sphere. We will reach the fourth position when new ships are commissioned," he added.