Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday inaugurated the extraction of gas from a Turkish field in the Black Sea , in a move that comes a few weeks before general elections that the country will witness and in the midst of Ankara's efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the field of energy.

The ceremony comes at a time when Erdogan is preparing for a frantic election, scheduled for May 14, which is seen as the most pivotal in Turkey's contemporary history.

Turkey had discovered quantities of gas off the coast of Zonguldak province, in a natural gas field, which Erdogan said was the largest in his country. According to the Turkish president, this field will contribute to reducing the country's dependence on energy imports.

In June, Turkey began construction of an underwater pipeline connected to the seabed from the port of Filius, about 400 km east of Istanbul on the Black Sea coast.

In a first stage, the facility will start extracting ten million cubic meters of gas per day.
"The total will reach 40 million cubic meters per day after the opening of new wells later," Erdogan said.

Experts say that extracting ten million cubic meters of gas per day meets about six percent of Turkey's annual consumption, which is estimated at sixty billion cubic meters, which gives a boost to the economy.
During the inauguration ceremony, which was broadcast live on Turkish television, Erdogan said, "It is a historic step on the path to the country's self-sufficiency in energy," according to what was reported by the official Turkish news agency Anadolu.

"When production reaches the maximum level, the gas extracted from the Black Sea will cover approximately 30 percent of Turkey's annual need," he added.

Last year, Türkiye received 40 percent of its gas needs from Russia. Turkey also imports gas from Azerbaijan and Iran, knowing that Ankara is looking for ways to diversify its sources of supplies, especially after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Inflation in the country reached 50.5 percent, while the exchange rate of the Turkish lira is witnessing a significant deterioration, which has led to a high cost of living that is difficult for the majority of Turks to bear.