Turkey has discovered 75 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth $30 billion dollars in the Black Sea, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Hungary and Slovakia are currently getting their Russian natural gas supply via the TurkStream pipeline that runs under the Black Sea to Turkey and then on to Eastern Europe. According to one Bulgarian energy analyst from the progressive think-tank Center for the Study of Democracy, the existence of this pipeline can prolong the European Union’s reliance on Russian gas. Indeed, it has already increased Russian gas imports to Central and Southeastern Europe from some 30% back in 2021 to over 50% as of last year, Martin Vladimirov wrote in an op-ed for Reuters.
Turkey is currently in talks to explore for oil and gas in Bulgaria, with similar plans for exploration in Iraq and Libya, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has revealed. According to the minister, state-owned energy company Turkiye Petrolleri AO (TPAO) will sign an agreement with an unnamed foreign partner within the next month to conduct exploration in Bulgaria’s section of the Black Sea.
While both countries appear aligned on their strategic goals, several challenges persist. Chief among them is the unresolved dispute over the Iraq–Türkiye Pipeline (ITP), which has halted Iraqi oil exports to Türkiye for over two years due to diplomatic and financial disagreements. The ongoing dispute between Baghdad and the KRG over revenue sharing and control of oil resources adds further complexity. International oil and gas companies operating in the KRG region also withhold cooperation until outstanding fiscal and contractual issues are addressed.
The two countries this week signed an agreement at the 2025 Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum in Islamabad to jointly bid on 40 offshore blocks. A bidding round for the granting of exploration licenses for the blocks, located in the Makran and Indus basins, was announced by the Pakistan government in February.
Turkmenistan is trying to shed its long-standing image as a hermit kingdom, at least when it comes to natural gas exports. Over the past few months, Ashgabat has gone on a deal-making binge that, over the long term, could significantly alter the European Union’s energy-import pattern.
Records show that international oil companies including Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil and Shell began exploring in Somalia in the 1950s but stopped when the country plunged into civil war in early 1991.
Iraq-Turkey pipeline shut since March 2023
Baghdad: around 225,000 bpd being produced without its oversight
APIKUR says terms of current contracts must be maintained
US encourages restart, State Dept. spokesperson says
Somalia and Turkey have announced the signing of a deal to explore for oil and gas that further strengthens cooperation between the two countries, according to officials from both countries.
BAGHDAD, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Iraq’s oil minister and his Turkish counterpart did not reach an agreement to immediately resume Iraq’s northern oil exports but agreed to hold more talks in the future, said two energy sources with knowledge of the ministers’ meeting in Ankara on Tuesday.