Turkey Starts Fracking for Shale Gas

Turkey has commenced hydraulic fracturing operations to extract shale gas from the wells in the Thracian and southeastern regions, where 4.6 trillion cubic meters of reserves have been detected, according to Hurriyet Daily News. 

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said that state-owned TPAO and other Turkish private firms will make more shale investments in the near future by collaborating with foreign companies, the news report added.

A delegation from the Ministry of Energy went to the United States and Canada to examine the existing wells there and to meet the representatives of the companies in the sector. Delegation members specifically examined the hydraulic fracturing operations for shale gas.

Shell and TPAO began exploring for shale gas in the eastern province of Diyarbakır’s Sarıbuğday-1 natural gas field in September 2012. 

U.S.-based Energy Information Agency (EIA) estimated that the Dadaş Shale in the Southeast Anatolian Basin and the Hamitabat Shale in the Thrace Basin contain 163 trillion cubic feet (tcf) (4.6 trillion cubic meters) of risked shale gas in-place, with 24 tcf (651 bcm) as the risked, technically recoverable shale gas resource, Hurriyet Daily News added.