‘Chevron’ to participate in developing oil fields of Turkish Black Sea shelf

The US oil-extracting company ‘Chevron’ plans to participate in developing oil fields on the Turkish Black Sea shelf. According to the newspaper ‘Zaman’, a preliminary agreement has been signed between ‘Chevron’ and the Turkish oil company TPAO, ITAR-TASS reports.

The cost of drilling the first borehole, Yassykheyuk-1, north of the coast of Zonguldak, will be $250 million. TPAO is the owner of the boreholes in the region and had started developing them. But the Turkish oil extractors lack experience in working on the shelf. The local specialists managed to go through 500 m of subsoil at a depth of 2300 m, but the oil reserves are located at a depth of 4500-5000 m.

The US company will work on two boreholes in the Black Sea. The expenses will be covered by ‘Chevron’ regardless of the result. TPAO will cover the registrational expenses of $50 million. If oil is discovered the profit will be split equally between ‘Chevron’ and TPAO.

Turkey has other agreements. The Brazilian company ‘Petrobraz’ has already started searching for oil near the coast of Sinop. BP and Exxon Mobil are also working.

It is essential for Ankara to involve the world oil and gas giants to fully provide the country with hydrocarbons by the 100th anniversary of the Turkish republic in 2023. Turkey is not an oil producer, but its territory has oil reserves. Most of its oil fields are either unsuitable for extraction, or too small or the extraction and access to them is too expensive. Local experts hope to make use of the Black Sea reserves in several decades.