GESGB London Evening Lecture | Deepwater Black Sea – From Drilling Hazard to Energy Independence

Speaker: Ciaran Nolan – Nolan Geoscience

Topic: Deepwater Black Sea – From Drilling Hazard to Energy Independence

Date: Tuesday 28 April 2026

Timings: 17:30 – Doors open / 18:00-19:00 – Lecture / 19:00-20:00 – Networking drinks

Venue: The Linnean Society of London | Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BF
The venue is located 5-minutes’ walk from Green Park and Piccadilly tube stations. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room on the ground floor.

Networking Drinks: The Clarence – 4 Dover Street, W1S 4LB
Self-funded bar.

This event is in-person only and will not be live streamed.

GESGB members can register free of charge via the membership platform

If you are interested in becoming a member of GESGB please visit: https://www.ges-gb.org.uk/membership/

Deepwater Black Sea – From Drilling Hazard to Energy Independence

Up until 1999, exploration in the Black Sea was constrained by the limitations of Soviet era jack-ups, the shallow shelf areas with water depths less than 100m. The technical and commercial challenges associated with taking drillships and semi-submersible rigs through the Bosphorus Straits were prohibitive. Several small oil and gas discoveries were made; some were brought into production.

In 1999 Turkish state energy company TPAO, along with co-venturer ARCO, drilled the first deepwater wells in Turkish waters – Limanköy-1 (820m water depth) and Limanköy-2 (720m). The focus of the early deepwater wells (1999-2011) was for oil in deeper structures. The Plio-Miocene gas play (with shallow depths of burial) was mainly considered to be a secondary play or a drilling hazard rather than the main objective. Gas encountered in Plio-Miocene sands were overlooked or ignored. Gas was encountered in the Limanköy wells, however there was no effective reservoir.  The basin took two huge steps forward in 2011 and 2020, when operators Exxon and TPAO targeted the Plio-Miocene gas play and discovered Domino and Sakarya. Exploration and appraisal success in the greater Sakarya area by TPAO has established combined resources of over 28 TCF. Phase 1 of the Sakarya development started in 2023, and Phase 3 will to be bought onstream in 2030 at 1.6 bcf/d.

The ongoing development of the deepwater Black Sea gas discoveries in Romania and Türkiye are significant milestones towards energy independence.

TPAO has three drillships operating in the Black Sea, with plans to drill up to six exploration wells in 2026-2027. The significance and interest in the Black Sea were reenforced in early 2026 – when ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP all signed separate Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) with TPAO.

Ciaran Nolan – Nolan Geoscience

Ciaran is a geoscientist with over 35 years industry experience. He started his career as a seismic interpreter with Exxon (Esso) working on the Shell North Sea joint venture. Careers with Enterprise Oil, Shell, Hunt Oil, Serica Energy and Petroceltic saw him go from well site geologist on the Clair field, to field geologist in Kurdistan, to performing quantitative geophysics in Norway. In 2016, Ciaran established Nolan Geoscience Consultancy. It has supported a variety of clients all over the world. Ciaran has a passion for getting the very most out of seismic and well data, generating new ideas and opportunities. His first foray into the Black Sea was in 2011 with Petroceltic who had producing assets offshore Bulgaria along with exploration licences offshore Romania. The hidden potential of the Black Sea continues to fascinate him.