Ankara, Aug 21: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the discovery of a large natural gas reserves off the Black Sea coast, days after he promised a good news that would usher in a for the energy dependent country.
Erdogan said on Friday that the amount of gas discovered is 320 billion cubic meters, adding that he hopes to start extracting and using the gas by 2023.
If confirmed as recoverable resources, the reserves could ease the country''s dependence on costly energy imports and could ease the financial market jitters that have seen the country''s currency plummet to record lows this summer.
The Turkish drilling ship, Fatih, had been carrying out exploration operations in the Tuna-1 sector in the western Black Sea for the past month. The sector is near where Romania has also found gas reserves.
The discovery comes as tensions between NATO allies Turkey and Greece are running high over oil and gas exploration in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.
Greek and Turkish warships have been shadowing each other after Turkey sent a research ship to look for potential undersea oil and gas deposits. The Turkish ship is scheduled to search for energy reserves there until August 23.
Separately, Turkey is also at odd with Cyprus over energy exploration around the island. It has dispatched warship-escorted vessels off Cyprus''s coast to drill for gas, insisting that it''s acting to protect its interests and those of Turkish Cypriots to the area''s natural resources.
The Greek Cypriot government of the ethnically split island has slammed Turkey for encroaching in its waters and economic rights.
The discovery of the natural gas reserve would come as a welcome respite for the country which is dependent on Iran, Iraq and Russia for its energy and is grappling with economic woes. Last year, energy imports cost the country USD 41 billion.
The Turkish lira has tumbled to record lows this months, fueled by high inflation, a wide current account deficit and the Turkish government''s push for cheap credit to drive an economy that was already fragile before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The currency however, recovered some losses following reports of the discovery of gas deposits.
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According to news reports , Greece and Egypt signed a deal on 6 August 2020 , to set up a maritime zone in the eastern Mediterranean for exploring energy resources. This seems to have enraged Turkey which is reported to have sent on 10 August 2020 its drilling ship to the disputed territory in the eastern Mediterranean sea for exploration of energy resources. Amid high tensions , Greece is reported to have brought their grievance to Foreign Affairs Council in the EU for appropriate solution. The news reports also suggest that Greece has also moved its naval fleet to the eastern Mediterranean , seeking , direct or indirect , support of Israel , the US and EU. France has already deployed some ships and military jets in the affected area. Later news reports on 21 August 2020 claim that Turkey has discovered large natural gas reserve off Black Sea. It can be reasonably believed that the discovery of gas reserves may have taken shape on 19 or 20 August , the dates predicted as something historic , something rare by this writer on 20 July , 2020. Besides , latest developments of strategic nature having military angle have shaped up on or around 19 August , 2020 , when the U.S. warship , the USS Hershel Woody Williams , is reported to have arrived in the Greek Island of Crete , on a mission to keep an eye on escalating tensions between NATO allies Greek and Turkey over energy resources rights in the eastern Mediterranean sea. The said U.S. warship is reported to have joined other vessels from the European Union and Russia in the region , where Ankara and Athens are locked in the dispute over territorial waters.
It is , however, noteworthy that these developments having war-like tension in the region have taken shape during the period alerted by this Vedic astrology writer on 20 July 2020 , through article -“ Planetary configuration in August-September 2020 suggest something historic , something rare” - published at nirpakhawaaz.com on 20 July 2020. This writer had sought to alert by predicting that months of August and September in 2020 looked to be presenting something historic , something rare amid war-like situations or enterprise across vulnerable countries in the world. The planetary impacts during these two months can be read to imply a mini- WW3 or could have potential of a full-fledged WW3. It may also be observed from the said article that 10 August 2020 was particularly included in the list of dates calling for attention on matters loaded with potential to mini - war or even something like WW3. http://www.nirpakhawaaz.com/2020/07/20/planetary-configuration-in-august-september-2020-suggest-something-historic-something-rare/
In the said article of 20 July 2020 , the dates 10 , 11 , 19 , 20 , 27 , 28 and 29 in August 2020 closely relevant to the alerts for more attention and appropriate strategy , were indicated.
Similarly dates 6 to 8 , 15 to 17 and 24 to 25 in September 2020 were mentioned as precisely relevant.
There is another predictive article of this writer becoming relevant to the ongoing tensions during August 2020 between Greece and Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean sea. This writer’s predictive alerts of 11 November 2019 for the U.S. were published in article - “ Astrological predictive alerts for 2020” - at wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/5176/ on 1 January 2020. As predicted in the said article , the US has been called upon around mid-2020 to address an issue in the Mediterranean sea having oil-gas , which goes to confirm accuracy and meaningfulness of the following:-
“ 3. The months of April to June , particularly May-June or later in 2020 , look to be trending into the scene some serious landscapes. There could be some war or war-like conditions across the world , WHICH THE US MAY BE CALLED UPON TO ADDRESS. SEA OR OIL REGIONS OR SUCH STUFF SEEMS TO BE CALLING ATTENTION”.
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