Turkey’s TPAO wraps up gas flow testing in Black Sea

Turkey’s oil and gas company TPAO has performed the first flow test on the Türkali-1 appraisal well in the Sakarya gas field located in the Western Black Sea.

As reported by TPAO earlier this week, the first reservoir section flowed gas at a rate of 1.15 MMSCMD (40.4 MMSCFD) with results proving excellent well deliverability and reservoir connectivity.

The collected data and analyses indicated an estimated production to deliver up to 2.7 MMSCMD (95 MMSCFD) gas.

Melih Han Bilgin, TPAO’s Chairman and CEO, said: “The project has been in progress per schedule and the final test operations reveal unique opportunities for the industry and the market.”

Data and samples acquired from the flow tests will be used to further optimize the field development work and to refine the front-end engineering and design (FEED), which will be concluded shortly after the well tests. The first gas is expected to reach Filyos gas processing terminal in 2023.

The Türkali-1 ultra-deep offshore appraisal well has been drilled to a total depth of 3,920 meters in 2,143 meters water depth. It is the first appraisal well drilled in the Sakarya gas field, using the Fatih drillship.

The well flow tests in the field are being conducted by TPAO’s 3rd drillship Kanuni, which joined the fleet in 2020. The Turkish company late last year also added another drillship to its fleet after buying the West Cobalt drillship, previously known as Cobalt Explorer, from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

It is worth reminding that the first flow test of the Türkali-2 appraisal well in the Sakarya gas field was completed in July last year.

The flow test provides data on the flow rate and the pressure of the natural gas to be extracted from the discovered reservoirs, based upon which the economic production potential is calculated.

So far, TPAO has discovered a total of 540 bcm gas in the Western Black Sea ultra-deep offshore. Sakarya gas field development project comprises a subsea gas production system, a receiving and processing terminal on the Filyos shore, and pipelines to connect them.

In the spring of 2022, Italy’s oilfield contractor Saipem is scheduled to start offshore operations on the Sakarya gas field under a contract awarded in November 2021. The contract entails the transportation and installation of pipelines to a 2,200-meter water depth. Operations will be conducted using the Castorone vessel.