“Oil Discovery in Gabar: What Does It Mean?”
TPAO Makes Oil Discovery in Gabar, Turkey
Turkey’s state-owned petroleum company, TPAO, has announced a significant oil discovery in the Gabar region. The discovery was made in the Aybüke Yalçın field and according to TPAO General Manager Melih Han Bilgin, led the team to new promising wells.
Bilgin spoke about the discovery in an interview on the Neutral Zone program on CNN TÜRK screens. He explained that drilling works had begun in Gabar, which was previously called martyr Esma Çevik. However, the drilling was stopped due to weather constraints before resuming in March.
The team had searched in the mountains, where their security battalion known as Seslice is located, with 24-hour UAV protection, the security measures taken by the Kahraman gendarmerie, and police. Before the drilling descended to 2600 meters, the team conducted their search and gas readers started to arrive. These gas readers gave the team an impression of the oil available in the region, and it took them about a week to realize the size of the oil present.
The discovery is part of a long-term national energy and mining policy that began in 2017 under the strategy document created during the period of Mr. Berat Albayrak. Bilgin highlighted that TPAO’s policy aims to develop its own exploration in the seas and carry out oil exploration on land, essentially every field. There can be no inaccessible geography of Turkey for them.
The discovery marks a new hope for Turkey, as the country imports most of its energy from abroad. The anticipated output from the Aybüke Yalçın field will help reduce Turkey’s dependence on foreign energy in the years to come.
