Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez announced yesterday that Turkey has discovered high-quality oil in the southeastern provinces of Siirt and Diyarbakır as a result of ongoing oil exploration activities in the region.

Minister Dönmez noted that Turkey has intensified oil and gas exploration activities and point to last month's natural gas discovery in Thrace. The latest gas reserve discovery would double the total reserves. Some 3 billion cubic meters of gas is enough to meet the 10-year demand of 300,000 households, the minister added. It will also add TL 5 billion to the current account balance.

In an area 25 kilometers from Siirt, Turkish Petroleum discovered a new oil field, he announced. The commercially viable reserve in the field is around 2 million barrels, the minister said. Turkish Petroleum reached an all-time high in oil production in 2018 with 40.3 million barrels. In the Mermer-1 field in Diyarbakır, Turkey discovered oil at a depth of 3,500 meters with the fracking method. "Turkey is not among the countries that produce hydrocarbon resources with hydrofracking. We are now able to produce shale oil in rocks," the minister said.

The well in Diyarbakır is capable of producing 200 barrels of oil per day and has an API gravity of 45. Oil value above 31.1 API gravity is considered light oil, which is less costly to process in refineries compared to heavy crude. "We will hopefully commercially utilize the 5.26 million barrels of oil reserves for the Turkish economy, and we aim to develop 50 more wells with hydrofracking," Minister Dönmez said.

Another well discovered in Diyarbakır is Hançerli-5 where the daily output capacity rose by nine times and exceeded 910 barrels per day. "The oil in this field is 37 API value and is estimated to contain 6 million barrels," Dönmez said. The Demirkuyu-1 oil well in Siirt is forecast to have 11.2 million barrels in reserves. The daily output capacity in the well is currently 450 barrels, and the ministry plans to raise this amount to 1,000 barrels.

The three wells will produce 560 barrels of oil per day, corresponding to TL 220 million at current prices, the minister explained.