Latest news with #oilreserves
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Estimated 6 billion barrel shale oil reserve in southeast Turkey, minister says
SIRNAK, Turkey, May 21 (Reuters) - U.S. oil producer Continental Resources estimates there is a shale oil reserve of 6.1 billion barrels in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir Basin, the Turkish energy minister said. Continental Resources and Turkish national oil company TPAO signed a joint venture agreement in March to develop shale fields in the basin. "Turkey's current annual (crude) oil import amounts to 365 million barrels. So a 6.1 billion barrel reserve is a great figure," Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told reporters during a visit to southeast Turkey this week. The minister previously heralded the March agreement as "a new era in local crude oil exploration" with Turkey viewing shale oil and gas discoveries as a key development. It is aiming to produce shale gas from the northwestern Thrace region, Bayraktar said. "Shale oil and shale gas could be a game changer," he said. Continental Resources did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Turkey is not a major oil and gas producer and currently imports more than 90% of its energy needs. The government is looking to cut its import bill and boost supply security by developing domestic resources and expanding international partnerships in oil and gas exploration. President Tayyip Erdogan recently announced that Turkey had discovered a new reserve of 75 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas during drilling works in the Black Sea.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Guyana soldiers attacked three times in 24 hours amid tensions with Venezuela
Guyanese soldiers have come under attack three times in 24 hours in an oil-rich border region also claimed by neighboring Venezuela, which says it will hold elections there this month. Armed men in civilian clothing carried out three separate attacks on troops conducting patrols on the Cuyuní River in the disputed Essequibo region, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) said. 'On each occasion, the Guyana Defence Force executed a measured response, and no rank sustained any injuries,' said a statement on Thursday. The GDF vowed it will 'continue to respond to acts of aggression along the Guyana-Venezuela border'. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory and is home to around 125,000 of its more than 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades, and insists Essequibo's frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899. Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east forms a natural border that has been recognized as far back as 1777. The long-running squabble was revived in 2015 after US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered huge crude reserves in Essequibo and reached fever pitch in 2023 when Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in the region. The find gave Guyana, a small English-speaking former British and Dutch colony, the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Caracas has since held a referendum asserting its claim to the territory, and has threatened to annex most of the region and make it Venezuela's 24th state. It has also announced Essequibo will be included in gubernatorial elections planned for 25 May, despite the UN's top court ordering it not organize a vote there. The GDF said Thursday it 'remains resolute in its mission to protect Guyana's territorial integrity' and was taking 'all necessary measures to safeguard the nation's borders and maintain peace and security within our beloved country'. Tensions calmed after the two countries' presidents agreed in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines last December 2023 to avoid any use of force, but were fanned again in February when Guyana said six of its soldiers were wounded in an ambush in the region.
