From the US Department of Energy. Major gas producers in Turkey include Arco, TPAO and Shell. Marmara Kuzey is located offshore in the Thrace-Gallipoli Basin of the Sea of Marmara. Turkish natural gas demand is projected to increase rapidly in coming years, with the prime consumers expected to be power plants and industrial users. Meanwhile, Turkey is pressing ahead with plans to liberalize the country's gas sector.
Natural gas is Turkey's preferred fuel for new power plant capacity to be added in coming years.
Turkey would like to diversify its gas import sources, and has signed deals with a variety of countries, including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Turkmenistan. Conventional financing of major infrastructure projects would only increase the amount of foreign credit, thus MENR has conceived other options for financing projects. First introduced in 1984 by then Prime Minister Turgat Ozal, BOT projects have been plagued by legal problems, which has slowed their implementation. Botas handles oil and gas pipelines, and also has sole authority for natural gas trading. Turkey's natural gas consumption is expected to grow rapidly, quadrupling within the next 20 years, with 1,400 bcf consumption projected for the year 2020.