Turkey sends its first floating gas platform to the Sakarya field, hints at a new Gabar discovery, hands the OIC presidency to Iraq in Baghdad, and the interior minister backs the terror-free Turkey process.

In this episode

• Osman Gazi floating production platform dispatched to Sakarya gas field
• Bayraktar hints at new Gabar oil find and faster Black Sea gas growth
• Fidan: Iraq's Zeydi has a serious vision to advance ties with Turkey
• Interior Minister Çiftçi confident terror-free Turkey process will succeed

Transcript

Deniz: Good morning and welcome to Turkey Brief Daily. It's Sunday, October 18. Today: a big day for Black Sea gas, more energy news from Gabar, Turkish diplomacy in Baghdad, and strong words from the Interior Minister on the terror-free Turkey process. I'm Deniz.

Maya: And I'm Maya. Let's get into it. Deniz, first up, that gas story. This feels like a milestone.

Deniz: It is. Turkey's first floating natural gas production platform, the Osman Gazi, was sent off from Filyos Port to its duty station in the Sakarya Gas Field. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar was at the send-off ceremony.

Maya: And what's the target?

Deniz: The aim is to light the Sakarya field's flare from the platform's flare stack in December, before the end of this year. Bayraktar also set out production targets that would reach roughly three quarters of the country's gas-connected homes by 2028.

Maya: Right. And the platform itself is basically a production base the size of a skyscraper.

Deniz: Exactly. Which brings us to the next item. Bayraktar was speaking to an Anadolu Agency reporter at Russia Energy Week in Moscow, and he hinted there may be more good news soon.

Maya: From Gabar?

Deniz: From Gabar. He said work there is ongoing, and that a new discovery from the oil field could be announced in the near future. On the Black Sea, he said Sakarya output is rising to 7.5 billion cubic meters a year.

Maya: Hm, that's a big number for a field that started at zero.

Deniz: Right. It started from zero in 2023, he said, output will double this year, and by 2028 it will quadruple. He also said the first reactor at the Akkuyu nuclear plant should come online within a few months.

Maya: Okay, plenty to watch there. Then to diplomacy. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in Baghdad.

Deniz: Yes, at the 52nd Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He met Iraqi Prime Minister Ali ez-Zeydi and said Zeydi has a serious vision for carrying relations with Turkey forward, with a positive effect visible in Iraq's policies.

Maya: Anything concrete out of it?

Deniz: They reviewed bilateral ties in trade, energy and security, and Fidan said the meetings addressed urgent issues facing the Islamic world, above all Palestine. Turkey also handed the council's rotating presidency to Iraq after holding it for one and a half years. Fidan met Egypt's foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, earlier in the day.

Maya: Last one. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi.

Deniz: He was speaking at a panel in Batman on the terror-free Turkey process. He said the process aimed at a terror-free Turkey and a terror-free region will succeed, and that no outside support is being sought.

Maya: And who's behind it?

Deniz: He pointed to backing from President Erdoğan, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş and 467 lawmakers. The program also included meetings with the governors, police chiefs and gendarmerie commanders of 11 provinces.

Maya: Right. That's all from us today. Do read the full stories at turkeybrief.com. That's turkeybrief dot com. Have a good Sunday.

Deniz: See you tomorrow.

Voices in this episode are AI-generated. Stories are based on Turkey Brief's reporting.