Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO) (Turkish Petroleum Corporation) was founded in 1954 by Law No. 6327 with the responsibility of being involved in
hydrocarbon exploration, drilling, production, refinery and marketing activities of
oil and gas in Turkey as the
national company.
Being an important actor of the national economy, TPAO achieved many “firsts” of the Turkish oil industry.[citation needed] The company, its history reaching back over a half century, has given rise to seventeen major companies, including
Petkim,
Tüpraş and POAŞ to Turkey.
Until 1983, as an integrated oil company, it was engaged in all the activity fields of oil industry from exploration to production, refinery, marketing and transportation. Today, TPAO is a national oil company involved in merely upstream (exploration, drilling, well completion and production) sector.[1]
Exploration, drilling, production and well completion
Natural gas storage
Participation to oil and natural gas pipeline projects
Exploration
In accordance with the company's vision and mission for meeting Turkey’s continuously increasing oil and natural gas demand through domestic and international sources, with the new exploration strategy, the company extends its activities in unexplored basins of
Turkey, especially Black Sea and Mediterranean offshore areas.
TPAO continues farm-out activities covering Mersin and İskenderun Bays licenses following Antalya Bay.[citation needed]
TPAO acquired 49% of shares in MOL's BaiTex LLC, which is the holder of the hydrocarbon licenses for Baituganskoye field and Yerilkinsky block in the Volga-Ural region, Russia.[3]