Turkey intends to develop sources of shale gas and is looking for partners. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Taner Yildiz, says Turkey is currently cooperating with Shell in the development of shale gas in the province of Diyarbakir. "We intend to continue to work on the development of shale gas, and are waiting to hear the proposals from local and foreign companies," Yildiz said.
Earlier, the report of the Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists (TPJD) said that Turkey has shale gas reserves in Turkey of 1.8 trillion cubic meters, which is enough to last the country for 40 years, with the consumption of raw materials at a rate of 45 billion cubic meters year.
The largest reserves of shale gas are found mainly in South-Eastern Turkey, as well as in the provinces of Edirne, Istanbul, Ankara and on the Black Sea coast. Turkey has launched an active search for oil and gas fields in order to reduce its dependency on foreign supplies. According to the Turkish Statistics Institute, the country paid $60.1 billion on imports of electricity in 2012, which is 11% more than in 2011.
