Turkey will spend around US$ 1.5 billion in oil and gas exploration projects in two years, says head of Turkey's directorate general for petroleum affairs.
"Sixteen energy companies applied for 116 licences for new hydrocarbon fields since June 16 and now we will evaluate the applications", Selami Incedalci, head of directorate general for petroleum affairs, told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
"The exploration projects for these unconventional oil and gas resources will create around a US$ 1.5 billion worth of investment over the 2 years."
Turkey is dependent on expensive energy imports to meet its daily oil demand of around 800 thousand barrels per day (kbp). Ankara strives to increase its domestic production of around 60 kbp by exploring the unconventional oil and gas resources. Turkish parliament passed last year a new oil legislation in an effort to facilitate procedures for domestic and foreign energy company investment.
All the licence applications for the new fields were for onshore oil and natural gas fields. Incedalci calculates that the amount of investment will far exceed US$ 1.5 billion when the capital and technology intensive offshore projects will start in the coming years.
 - Shell to drill deep sea field in Black Sea
 Incedalci said that Shell, which operates two fields in southeastern province of Diyarbakir in cooperation with Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO), is planning to drill a deep sea field in the Black Sea.
The natural gas field which Shell plans to drill in 2015 is off the coast of Akcakoca, a city on the Black Sea coast in north of Turkey. Shell and TPAO have already signed a farm out agreement granting Shell to obtain a percentage of ownership of the field TPAO owns in exchange for providing services.
TPAO intensifies its natural gas explorations in Black Sea and the agreement might give a boost in exploration activities in the region, prompting other exploration companies to follow Shell for a share of unconventional natural gas resources.