BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 25
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has extended two licenses of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) for a period of two years, the ministry told Trend.
The ministry said that the license for oil and gas exploration was extended in three provinces of the country, namely in Diyarakir, Sanliurfa and Sirnak.
"The total area on which TPAO will conduct exploration work after the license is renewed is 61,129 hectares," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, TPAO received the first license for oil and gas exploration in the provinces of Diyarakir and Sanliurfa in 2014, and in the province of Sirnak in 2015.
"TPAO appealed to the ministry to extend the licenses for oil and gas exploration in these provinces last December," the ministry said.
As many as 1,889 exploration wells were drilled in Turkey as of 2018.
During this period, the total depth of exploratory drilling operations amounted to 3,960,312 meters.
During this period, TPAO drilled 943 exploratory wells.
General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) drilled 61 wells with a total depth of 92,599 meters, while 144 more wells were drilled by other Turkish companies.
Around 546 exploratory wells with a total depth of 990,466 meters were developed by foreign companies, and 195 wells were developed by joint ventures and consortia with a share of foreign capital.
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