Turkey discovered an additional 60 million barrels of oil equivalent reserves with 26 new onshore explorations this year, Fatih Donmez, the minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced Monday.

Speaking at the Grand National Assembly, Donmez summarized the achievements that Turkey made with its own vessels on the completion of 15 offshore drillings along with the onshore explorations.

'Onshore, 99 exploration, production and test wells have been opened and nearly 224,000 meters of drilling have been conducted in the last nine months. Along with the Black Sea discovery, nearly 60 million barrels of oil equivalent reserves have been brought into our country thanks to 26 discoveries in our onshore areas in 2021,' he said.

Through this achievement, security in natural gas supplies has been achieved to cover the anticipated 22% consumption rise to 60 billion cubic meters.

Donmez said he does not expect any supplies problems this winter with the country's policy of supply diversification, the growing number and capacity in natural gas and LNG entrance points, and with plans for the underground natural gas storage facilities, which are currently three quarters full, to be at full capacity.

The minister also covered the plans for renewables through the Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA) projects, namely 2,000 megawatts (MW) for wind and 2,500 MW for solar capacity.

- 'Mining exports projected to reach $6 billion'

He detailed the progressive rise in Turkey's mining exports from $700 million in 2002 to $4.4 billion by this September.

'We expect our mining exports to reach $6.6 billion by the year-end,' Donmez said, adding that the share of mining sector in gross domestic product is projected to increase to 1.9% from 1.4% in the first half of 2021./aa