Turkish domestic oil and gas production expansion

Turkey has seen significant developments in its domestic oil production. In early August, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced that the Gabar oil field in Şırnak province reached a new daily production record of 83,300 barrels, surpassing the previous record of 83,200 barrels. Since its discovery in 2021, more than 50 million barrels have been produced from Gabar, and the government aims to increase daily capacity to 100,000 barrels by expanding the number of wells.

By mid-August, data from the first half of 2026 showed that domestic oil production reached 23.1 million barrels, with Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO) accounting for 21.8 million barrels. The Gabar region contributed 60 percent of this total output. During the same period, natural gas production exceeded 1.64 billion cubic meters, with 92 percent originating from the Sakarya Gas Field.

Focus has expanded to the Diyarbakır region, where the ministry reported that new exploration sites using horizontal drilling technology have the potential to double or triple current production levels seen in Gabar. Minister Bayraktar stated that the country aims to double natural gas production in the Black Sea this year and quadruple it by 2028. This expansion is part of a broader national strategy to achieve energy independence, alongside international energy projects in Somalia, Libya, and Iraq.