Turkey is heavily dependent on oil imports but there is a push to find new reserves at home.
Much of the company's overseas efforts are now being directed towards central Asia, where Turkey hopes to benefit from the opening up of new and existing fields and to gain royalties from the transporting of production through the proposed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. In 1999, the last year for which full figures are available, Turkey produced just under 3m tonnes of oil, about one ninth of its needs. Seeking to expand its natural gas production, TPAO and foreign firms are looking to new fields. Currently, domestic production stands at less than 20m barrels of oil equivalent. Much hope is being pinned on the shelf off Turkey's Black Sea coast.