Turkey steps up oil exploration in Pakistan

Energy-poor Turkey is expanding into international oil and gas exploration with a focus on Pakistan, a senior government official has said.

“Turkish firms are now turning their focus to international opportunities,” Alparslan Bayraktar, the energy and natural resources minister, said in a speech in Pakistan, according to Daily Sabah newspaper.

This week, state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) signed an agreement to participate in an offshore oil and gas bidding round jointly with Pakistani national energy companies.

The tender, which is slated to open on June 30, covers 40 offshore blocks.

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The project comes on the back of President Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Islamabad in February.

Turkey, a member of the OECD, is hydrocarbon poor and has to rely on imports of gas from Russia to fund its sizeable domestic industries.

Bayraktar said that operations by Turkish seismic research vessels in Somali waters are expected to close by next month.

He said that similar initiatives are ongoing in Libya, Niger, Iraq and Central Asia, the news report said.