Türkiye said Monday that oil production in the southeastern region of Gabar had reached 25,000 barrels a day, with the country's top economic official saying it would gradually help curb the chronic current account deficit and accelerate reserve accumulation.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the discovery of an oil reserve in Şırnak province's Mount Gabar in late December 2022. Erdoğan said the reserve contained an estimated 150 million barrels of oil valued at approximately $12 billion.
It was followed by the discovery of another reserve in the region this May, which the state oil company Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) said boasted about 1 billion barrels and a market value of up to $80 billion.
"By the end of this year, we aim to increase our daily production from the Gabar project to 35,000 barrels," said TPAO Chairperson Melih Han Bilgin.
"Our target for the end of 2024 is a daily production of 100,000 barrels only from the Gabar project. To achieve this goal, we are working tirelessly with all our might, day and night, as a unified team," Bilgin said, according to TPAO's post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The discoveries in Gabar increased the country's proven oil reserves to about 1.2 billion barrels. Türkiye is estimated to consume about 1 million barrels of oil a day.
They came just months after the country announced the discovery of $1 billion worth of oil reserves in the Çukurova field in the southern Adana province.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said that in 2024, oil production in Gabar alone would fulfill 10% of Türkiye's domestic needs.
"This will lead to a permanent reduction in the current account deficit and expedite reserve accumulation. By 2026, the total oil production will meet 18% of our needs," Şimşek wrote on X.
Türkiye is almost completely dependent on imports to cover its energy needs, which left it vulnerable to rising costs that surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Türkiye's crude oil production has risen gradually over recent years, reaching about 70,000 barrels per day in 2022. It compared to 65,000 barrels a day in 2021, 61,000 in 2020, and 57,000 in 2019.
The output is said to have averaged 80,000 barrels this year, a figure that the country expects to lift to 200,000 next year.