Türkiye has announced two additional oil discoveries in its southeastern Gabar region, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan disclosing the finds as the COP31 climate conference got underway in Antalya.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said the Gaziler and Cardakli fields started producing in October and are believed to contain around 135 million barrels (mbbl) based on early evaluations.
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He confirmed plans to join the climate summit, where more than 100 world leaders are expected across a three-day programme.
Across the wider Gabar area, 184 wells are now collectively delivering 84,000 barrels per day (bpd), enough to cover roughly 8% of the country’s oil demand.
Erdogan forecast a 30% uplift in volumes as operators progress development drilling and bring fresh wells online, lifting daily rates above 100,000 barrels (bbl) during the latter half of 2027 when the total well count is expected to approach 230.
Should output eventually reach 120,000bpd, the yearly economic value would stand at approximately $4.4bn based on prevailing prices, Erdogan said.
He added that the Gabar fields have so far yielded 75.4mbbl of crude in total, generating revenues he valued at $6bn that have helped narrow the national trade imbalance.
The Turkish President said: “We are producing Türkiye’s highest-quality oil in Gabar, where terrorism, violence and fear once prevailed.”
The disclosure landed on the first day of COP31, where negotiators from some 190 nations are debating a structured wind-down of fossil fuel consumption.
German campaign group Urgewald used the occasion to publish a report targeting state operator Türkiye Petrolleri AO (TPAO), accusing the company of “fossil fuel ignorance” after its upstream exploration budget doubled over five years.
The episode recalled COP29 in Baku two years ago, when host nation leader Ilham Aliyev called Azerbaijan’s oil and gas wealth a “gift from God” and rejected international pressure over hydrocarbon exploitation.
Erdogan also highlighted offshore gas progress in the Black Sea.
Production there currently serves four million homes, and the arrival of the Osman Gazi floating production unit at its station on 17 October is expected to raise that figure to eight million by expanding throughput capacity.
Positioning the upstream push as a pillar of national energy policy, Erdogan said Türkiye is working to broaden the range of supplier nations, delivery corridors and fuel types it relies on.
Demographic projections underpin the urgency: the country’s population is on course to pass 88 million before the end of the decade and approach 94 million by 2050.
Erdogan said: “We attach particular importance to meeting this demand in the safest, most stable, and most cost-effective way by diversifying our energy mix and increasing exploration and drilling activities.”
