ANKARA — Turkey believes it might have found the key to achieve
energy independence.
Turkey's State Planning Agency has drafted plans to invest $80 billion
by 2022 for energy exploration projects. Officials said much of the money
would be spent in exploring the Black Sea. So far, Turkey has spent $500
million drilling in the Black Sea.
The government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been
conducting feasibility research on crude oil exploration and development projects
in the Black Sea and now believes the Black Sea or its coastal area could
contain large amounts of oil, officials said.
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British Petroleum and the state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corp. have been
jointly exploring for energy in and around the Black Sea. In the eastern
part of the Black Sea, the two companies have found traces of what
executives said could amount to up to one billion tons of oil.
A similar
effort has been conducted by Brazil's Petrobas and TPAO on the eastern
portion of the sea. Drilling was expected to begin by 2010.