Due to its location, Turkey is surrounded by seas on three sides, is developed touristically and has many seasonal transitions. It is located in a special area. It is the largest source of income in the Middle East, where our country is located. Not enough oil is extracted in our country. There are many important reasons why oil cannot be extracted from our country, but there are still many debates due to insufficient information on this topic.

Although there have been attempts in recent years to replace oil with renewable energy sources, oil, which is still the most widely used energy source, is a very important issue for countries. Including our country Countries that cannot meet their own energy needs tend to spend the most on these items. Today we will try to explain to you why there is no oil in Turkey. While researching this topic, I also realized that there is a lack of resources in our country. I hope that in the coming years more research will be done on this topic and that we will have access to more accurate sources.

While Turkey’s neighbors are getting oil, why isn’t it coming from us?

Especially the countries in our southeastern region We see that the countries in our eastern and northern regions are extracting oil and natural gas. The biggest reason why this important energy does not come from our country is our geological differences.

Where are Turkey’s main oil sources? There are small oil reserves on the southeastern border However, its extraction is very expensive due to geographical conditions.

So close to oil and yet so far away…

The reason why Turkey is not among the oil-rich countries can be explained by its geology. In fact, the southeastern region of Turkey, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula are the same continent. In other words, while oil was coming from these regions, oil should also be coming from Turkey.

It is at this point that it emerges continental movements it comes in. Our southeastern and eastern borders are generally It is always located in mountainous regions. These mountainous areas are areas formed due to the collision and contraction of plates.

We can illustrate this situation as follows. Imagine two carpets. When the folds of these two carpets meet, they contract and create height. At this point, one carpet goes under the other, distorting the shape of the other carpet.

At work Plates collide tectonically and form mountains over time. These tectonic movements that have taken place over millions of years, While it protected some oil fields, it caused the decline of others.

Can’t we get oil from under the mountains now?

There is one thing we know; The Arabian plate exerts pressure on the Anatolian plate. The Arabian plate, which remains much flatter and undeformed compared to the Anatolian plate, allows oil to be extracted from not very deep points.

The reason there is so much oil in the Middle East is natural a completely different situation, We’ll come back to that later. If we look from Earth’s perspective, we see that the Arabian Plate is very suitable for oil extraction.

In our border neighbor Iraq, for example 1500 – 2000 meters Oil and gas can be extracted at depth from Miocene carbonate rocks. In Turkey, the Miocene rocks lie directly on the surface.

As a result of this Our country’s oil reserves have been distorted, escaped or gone too deep. Due to the deformation, a large rich reserve cannot be found in a certain area and the need to dig very deep, which means that drilling a well cannot cover its own costs.

Alpine Orogeny, which starts in Europe, passes through Turkey and reaches China

Our world is a planet that has been constantly mobile since the first day it was formed by dust particles, and we can almost call it alive. The breakup of major continents and the formation of new continents, resulting in mountains, hills and rivers, continues even as we sit here today. Here are the biggest examples of this mobility: Alpine mountain formation, It may be one of the main reasons why there is no oil in our country.

Alpine Orogeny, which occurred at the same time From Alps to Himalayas The name given to many mountain ranges. located in our country Taurus Mountains, Eastern Anatolia Mountains This formation, which includes major mountain ranges such as Tethys OceanIt was formed in the area where .

These mountain ranges were formed 40 to 45 million years ago as the African, Arabian and Indian plates moved north and collided with Europe and Asia. What we left behind from the crash site was actual rubble. This made Turkey’s geographical structure unsuitable for oil.

Tethys Ocean and its oil wells

formed during the Permian era Tethys OceanIt was formed over a large area at a time when life was booming. What’s left of Tethys today Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Aral Sea and Caspian Sea Remained. The Alpine Orogeny region was also formerly located at the foot of Mount Tethys. In other words, the region where our country is located is one of the children of the Tethys Ocean.

Over the years, the Tethys Ocean has been covered by continental movements. While the Arabian Plate holds the riches of Tethys well Alpine mountain formation Powerful geological movements in the region have deformed the oil fields.

Can oil and natural gas be found in our seas?

You have seen the information we have given about the Tethys Ocean. Mediterranean Sea and Black SeaNow that we have learned that they are representatives of these regions, we can say that there is no reason why oil and natural gas supplies should not come from our seas.

The biggest reason for the increasing political tensions in these regions today is the size of energy reserves here. The oil fields, which are generally in the shallow waters of the Tethys Ocean, may not be as numerous as those beneath the Arabian Plate, but they are mainly He may also have left large deposits in the Mediterranean Sea.

Could our misfortune be our happiness?

It can be seen as a sad situation that there is not much oil in our country, which is very important for energy needs, but the beauties of our country are not underground. There are plenty above ground.

We must know the value of our country, of which every region is special. We must try to protect the wealth above ground.