Istanbul (Somalia Today) — Türkiye’s state-owned energy giant TPAO signed a cooperation deal with US oil supermajor Chevron on Thursday, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced, as Ankara accelerates its push to secure hydrocarbon resources from the Black Sea to the Horn of Africa.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU), inked in Istanbul, paves the way for joint exploration and production projects both within Türkiye and internationally.
“By supporting our work in Gabar and the Black Sea with our international initiatives, we will also contribute to our vision of transforming TPAO into a global company,” Bayraktar said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
He added that the partnership supports the company’s long-term target of reaching a production capacity of one million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The agreement marks the second major pact between Türkiye and a US energy titan this year, following a similar exploration deal signed with ExxonMobil.
It comes as Türkiye, which relies on imports for nearly all its energy needs, aggressively seeks Western capital and technical expertise to unlock complex deep-water reserves and insulate its economy from volatile global prices.
Somalia drilling mission
The Chevron deal coincides with Türkiye’s preparations to launch a high-stakes drilling operation off the coast of Somalia, a key ally in East Africa where Ankara maintains its largest overseas military base.
Bayraktar confirmed that the Çağrı Bey, a seventh-generation drillship recently added to the state fleet, will deploy to Somali waters to spearhead the campaign.
The mission follows a landmark hydrocarbon agreement signed between Ankara and Mogadishu in early 2024, which grants TPAO exclusive rights to explore and produce oil in three offshore blocks.
Drilling is expected to begin early this year, targeting deep-water reservoirs identified by the Oruç Reis seismic research vessel, which completed a comprehensive survey of the area in 2025.
Estimates suggest Somalia could hold at least 30 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves, though the region lacks infrastructure and faces security challenges.
“We will soon sign new agreements for different international partnerships and share the concrete projects we have implemented with our nation,” Bayraktar said Thursday.
Energy independence drive
Türkiye’s energy import bill reached approximately $70 billion last year, a major drag on the country’s current account balance. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made “energy independence” a central pillar of his economic policy.
In addition to the Somali expedition, Bayraktar announced that a second new drillship, the Yıldırım, would join operations in the Black Sea.
Türkiye is already extracting natural gas from the Black Sea’s Sakarya field—the largest discovery in its history—and has ramped up oil production at the onshore Gabar field in the Kurdish-majority southeast.
However, analysts note that reaching the 1 million-barrel target will require massive new discoveries or significant international acquisitions.
The partnerships with Chevron and ExxonMobil signal that Ankara is keen to leverage US industry know-how to accelerate these ambitious projects, despite occasional diplomatic friction with Washington over regional conflicts.
