TURKEY - BP Gas Field.

In early May 1997, TPAO and Arco (now part of BP) announced the discovery of a major offshore field of non-associated gas in the Ak?akoca-Igneada region. This is in the south-western part of the Black Sea, where the area is gas-prone. BP is the operator with a 49% stake in a joint venture with TPAO, which holds 51%.

The field, so far proven to be the second biggest in Turkey next to Marmara Kuzey, is relatively close to the Turkish coast. It is 80 km north of the Bosphorous. The first well was developed by Arco and put on stream in the second half of 1998. The field's recoverable reserves have been estimated at 95 BCM. Its production capacity is around 45 MCM/year. The gas is supplied to nearby markets in north-western Turkey.

BP's activities have revived interest in the Turkish section of the Black Sea, despite the fact that its shelf is less than 20 km wide and descends rapidly into very deep water. BP has a block further east in the Turkish section of the Black Sea.

TPAO has been trying to start exploring for oil and gas along Turkey's Mediterranean coast. But it has been constrained by complex territorial disputes over the Aegean Sea and islands between Turkey and Greece.

BP in 2000 began exploration drilling on a promising Mediterranean block off Mersin and Hatay province, the latter having long been the subject of a territorial claim by Syria. BP's US division Amoco, holding the block in partnership with TPAO since the early 1990s, did a seismic survey in the area in 1998.

Under a JV deal signed on July 19, 2000, TPAO and El Paso Energy Corp of the US began in the following month a seismic programme for the Iskenderun and Mersin bays, off the East Mediterranean coast. They were to spend $20-30m in the initial phase, which was also to involve drilling of two wells at a sea depth of 100-500 metres and a drill depth of 2,500-3,000 metres.

In March 2002 Amity Oil of Perth, Australia, announced a gas find in its second appraisal well in the Thrace Basin. Gocerler-3, drilled in Block 3589 to a depth of 1,405 metres, had what it called "excellent gas shows" in three reservoirs (see Gas Market Trends 20).