Erdogan gives ’good news’ before speech at COP-31 conference

On the very first day of the UN's international climate conference 'COP-31', Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the discovery and extraction of two new oil fields in the southeastern region of his country. In a message on social media ahead of the conference speech and important discussions, he confirmed that oil production will increase by about 30 percent by launching new wells in the country's Gaber oil field.

President Erdogan said that by the end of 2027, it will be possible to extract more than 100,000 barrels of mineral oil per day from these new oil fields. The field, located in the border region of Syria and Iraq, is expected to generate an annual economic benefit of about $4.4 billion. Turkey is accelerating this extraction process mainly to reduce its dependence on energy imports, as it currently has to buy about 90 percent of its oil needs from abroad.

However, climate activists and environmental organizations have expressed strong anger over the announcement, which came alongside the issue of reducing the use of climate-damaging fossil fuels at the environmental conference attended by representatives from nearly 190 countries.

The international environmental organization Urgewald has called the announcement of new oil production during the conference an irresponsible decision as the head of the host country. However, the Erdogan government claims that in addition to extracting domestic mineral resources, it is working to implement major investments in green energy to reduce fossil fuel use by 30 percent by 2040.

Source: Yeni Safak