U.S. oil producer Continental Resources estimates there is a shale oil reserve of 6.1 billion barrels in Türkiye's southeastern Diyarbakir Basin, the Turkish energy minister said.
If confirmed, such reserves would place Türkiye above some OPEC members such as Congo or Gabon, and other major producers such as the UK.
Continental Resources and Turkish national oil company TPAO signed a joint venture agreement in March to develop shale fields in the basin.
" Türkiye's current annual (crude) oil import amounts to 365 million barrels. So a 6.1 billion barrel reserve is a great figure," Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told reporters during a visit to Sirnak province in southeast Türkiye this week.
The minister previously heralded the March agreement as "a new era" with Türkiye viewing shale oil and gas discoveries as a key development. It is aiming to produce shale gas from the northwestern Thrace region, Bayraktar said.