Turkey to announce discovery of new gas reserves in Black Sea

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that he would announce the size of new gas reserves off the Black Sea this week while visiting the Turkish drilling ship "Fatih".

"I will visit our drilling ship Fatih on Saturday to witness the work in person and announce the size of the new reserves," Erdogan said while addressing his lawmakers at the parliament.

Ankara has already announced 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea.

Erdogan said Turkey also dispatched "Kanuni" vessel to the Black Sea, noting that "it is also expected to bring good news about the reserves" in the region.

The tensions between Turkey and Greece were about to calm down over plans to resume exploratory talks for the disputed areas, but mounted again this week as Ankara announced that its vessel would carry out new seismic research activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)