Turkish state-owned TPAO said it has found an estimated 1bn bl of oil in place at an exploration well in the southeast province of Sirnak, representing the country's "largest onshore oil discovery".
The find at the Sehit Aybuke Yalcin-1 well holds an estimated 650mn bl of recoverable oil reserves, according to TPAO chief executive Melih Han Bilgin. It was first announced by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a campaign rally on 3 May ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May.
When developed, the field will have a production capacity of 100,000 b/d, Erdogan said. That would more than double Turkey's crude production of about 70,000 b/d and meet 10pc of the country's 1mn b/d oil demand.
While a full field development plan is not expected until the end of the year, TPAO aims to drill up to 100 wells and could reach the 100,000 b/d target in two years, Bilgin said.
The discovery well is producing 1,200 b/d of 41°API crude at the moment, according to TPAO, considerably lighter than Turkey's current oil production and a similar gravity to Saudi Arabia's Arab Extra Light grade.
Sehit Aybuke Yalcin represents TPAO's second discovery in the mountainous Cudi-Gabar area after the Sehit Esma Cevik find late last year, which has since reached production of 10,000 b/d out of a planned 25,000 b/d. Output is being trucked, with the closest refinery located some 100km away in Batman.
Bilgin said the region could become a key oil-producing hub for Turkey, with "several other structures offering further potential". TPAO is planning more exploration wells in the area in the second half of the year.
The company said the new discovery will allow it "to build a state-of-the-art oil refinery to unlock the potential in the region including the fields in neighbouring countries". TPAO's latest discoveries in Sirnak are located close to key oil-producing areas in northeast Syria and northern Iraq.
