Turkey has laid the first pipes for the undersea pipeline network to transport onshore natural gas from the Black Sea to help slash the country’s dependence on energy imports. The pipelaying exercise which took place, which took place on Monday, June 13, via a video link, was witnessed by The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The first pipeline section was laid and connected to the seafloor from Filyos port, approximately 400 kilometers east of the capital Istanbul on the Black Sea coast. According to president Erdogan,  the pipeline linking Sakarya gas field wells to the gas processing plant in Zonguldak will start pumping the gas in the first quarter of 2023.

“In the first quarter of 2023, we will have transferred 10 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, which will be produced in the first phase, to our national transmission system. Sakarya Gas Field will reach peak production from 2026,” Erdogan told an event in Filyos.

The gas field is located about 150 kilometers off Turkey’s coast in the Black Sea and is the country’s largest-ever discovered natural gas. Its Fatih drillship discovered 540 billion cubic meters of gas in August 2020.

The Undersea Pipeline to Address Gas Shortage in Turkey

The 170-km pipeline that will connect the wells in the region to the main processing facility will be laid at a water depth of 2,200 meters. Erdogan emphasized that Turkey considers energy key to regional cooperation and not a source of tension and conflict, adding that they would ensure Turkey completely solves the problem of energy supply security.

Turkey highly depends on imports to cover its energy demands, whose prices skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last year, it imported 45% of its gas from Russia, while the rest came from Azerbaijan and Iran.

The country consumed 48 billion cubic meters of gas in 2020 and 60 billion in 2021, with this year’s consumption projected to reach 62-63 billion cubic meters. While addressing the event, Fatih Donmez, Energy and Natural Resource Minister said the gas field would be the world’s fastest offshore field development project from exploration to the first production.

The 35,000 pipes which are to be laid on the seabed have already been manufactured, with 95% already shipped. When entirely installed, the pipes will carry 10 million cubic meters of natural gas per day in the first stage and 40 million cubic meters in the second stage.