Turkish state-owned oil and gas company Turkiye Petrolleri (TPAO) has forged a partnership with Shell covering the exploration licence in the Khan Tervel field offshore Bulgaria.
Khan Tervel is located in Bulgaria’s maritime area in the Black Sea near the TPAO-operated Sakarya gas field.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Shell is the operator of the exploration licence.
The initial phase of collaboration between TPAO and Shell involves conducting a 3,800km² 3D seismic survey.
Data collection from the survey will be carried out alongside Shell and will inform future decisions regarding exploration wells.
The findings from this stage will guide the subsequent steps of the project.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThis agreement leverages TPAO’s existing experience in the Black Sea with Shell’s global expertise and technical skills in exploration activities.
Türkiye Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said: “Our experience in offshore, our strong fleet of vessels and our skilled personnel have been key pillars in establishing this partnership in an area outside our own maritime jurisdiction in the Black Sea.
“I believe that these steps, which combine TPAO’s experience in the Black Sea with Shell’s global technical expertise, will make a concrete contribution to energy supply security in our region and to our country’s institutional capacity.”
The Sakarya gas field is located in the ultra-deep waters of the western Black Sea, around 175km off the coast of Eregli. It lies within the 7,000km² AR/TPO/KD/C26-C27-D26-D27 block fully owned by TPAO.
The development of the Sakarya gas field is structured into three main phases.
The offshore field began production in April 2023.
Initially, Sakarya was projected to provide ten million cubic metres per day (mcm/d) of natural gas, with plans to increase output to 40mcm/d as more wells are brought online.
By April 2025, the field’s production had reached around 9.5mcm/d.
For Türkiye, the partnership with Shell aligns with its strategic goal of energy independence.
Earlier this month, Türkiye announced plans to begin oil exploration in Somali waters using its Cagri Bey drill-ship, part of its strategy to enhance oil and natural gas operations both within the country and internationally.
Drilling operations off the coast of Somalia are due to start between April and May this year.
