Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO)

Company type	Public
Industry	Oil and gas industry
Founded	1954 (1954)
Headquarters	Ankara , Turkey
Key people	Melih Han Bilgin (CEO)
Products	Petroleum products petrochemicals chemicals
Revenue	US$ 29.5 billion (2012)
Net income	US$ 9 billion (2012)
Total assets	US$ 22.5 billion (2012)
Total equity	US$ 12.4 billion (2012)
Owner	Zeren Group (2024–present)
Number of employees	4,800 (2013)
Website	www.tpao.gov.tr

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.^[1]

Until 1983, as an integrated oil company, it was engaged in all the activities 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.^[2]

On November 25, 2024, Zeren Group announced that it had completed the purchase of TPAO.^[3]

In 2013, the company purchased the seismographic research/survey vessel RV Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa worth US$130 million for gas and oil field exploration in Black Sea^[4] and the Mediterranean Sea.^[5]

Name	Built by	Type	Generation	Acquired	Note[6]
Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa	Polarcus	Seismic research vessel	-	2013	[7]
MTA Oruç Reis	İstanbul Naval Shipyard	Seismic research vessel		2017	[8]
Fatih	Hyundai Heavy Industries	Ultra deepwater drillship	Sixth	2017	[9][10]
Yavuz	Samsung Heavy Industries	Ultra deepwater drillship	Sixth	2018	[11]
Kanuni	Samsung Heavy Industries	Ultra deepwater drillship	Sixth	2020	[11]
Abdülhamid Han	Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering	Ultra deepwater drillship	Seventh	2021	[11]
-	-	Floating gas operating platform ship	-		On order. Expected acquisition in 2024.[12]

Azerbaijan projects:

• Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli project with 5.73% share^[13]
• Shah Deniz gas field project with 19% share^[14]
• Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline project with 6.53% share^[15]
• South Caucasus Pipeline project with 9% share^[16]
• Alov Exploration project with 10% share

Iraq projects:

• Badra Oil Field Development project with 10% share^[17]
• Missan Oil Field Development project with 11.25% share^[18]
• Siba Gas Field Development project with 40% share^[19]
• Mansuriya Gas Field Development project with 37.5% share (operator)^[20]

Russia project:

TPAO acquired 49% of shares in MOL's BaiTex LLC, which holds the hydrocarbon licenses for Baituganskoye field and Yerilkinsky block in the Volga-Ural region, Russia.^[21]

• 1954: Foundation; capital: 150 million TL^[22]
• 1958: The first discovery; Germik Field^[23]
• 1959: The first district management “Batman”^[24]
• 1960: Application of secondary recovery process^[25]
• 1960: Establishment of İPRAŞ^[26]
• 1961: Discovery of the biggest oil field in Turkey - Batı Raman Field^[27]
• 1963: Establishment of the first service station^[28]
• 1965: Establishment of PETKİM^[29]
• 1966: Establishment of İPRAGAZ^[30]
• 1967: Establishment of Aliağa Refinery in İzmir^[31]
• 1967: Opening of the first pipeline (Batman-Dörtyol-İskenderun)^[32]
• 1968: Annual production: 1 million barrels
• 1968: TPAO Batman Orchestra awarded "Golden Microphone"^[33]
• 1969: Establishment of TÜMAŞ^[34]
• 1970: The first offshore exploration: Payas-1
• 1970: The first natural gas discovery: Thrace/Hamitabat^[35]
• 1971: Adıyaman's first oil discovery^[36]
• 1971: Establishment of İGSAŞ^[37]
• 1972: Adıyaman-Sarıl Oil Pipeline start-up
• 1974: Establishment of DİTAŞ, BOTAŞ and ADAŞ^[38]
• 1974: Establishment of research center
• 1974: Establishment of Cyprus Turkish Petroleum Ltd. Company^[39]
• 1975: Establishment of ISILİTAŞ^[38]
• 1975: 100 million barrels in production
• 1975: TPAO ranks 204th of the world's biggest companies at Fortune except USA
• 1976: Driiling of Akçakoca-1 well in the Black Sea^[40]
• 1977: Establishment of Ankara Drilling District Management^[41]
• 1980: New exploration strategies, big increase in discoveries^[42]
• 1980: TPAO ranks 97th of the world's biggest companies at Fortune except USA
• 1983: Establishment of Libya Arab-Turkish joint engineering and architecture company^[43]
• 1983: Status change in TPAO and disintegration starts
• 1983: TPAO assumed the title of the most oil producing company in Turkey
• 1984: Establishment of the second district management - “Thrace District Management”
• 1985: TPAO ranks 63rd of the world's biggest companies at Fortune except USA
• 1986: Establishment of Kırıkkale Refinery^[44]
• 1986: Drilling record in Turkey in 123 wells with 224,392 m (736,194 ft)
• 1987: The deepest drilling in Demre-1 (Kaş-Antalya)
• 1987: TPAO in the international Arenaı
• 1988: Discoveries of Karakuş oil field in Adıyaman and K. Marmara natural gas fields in Marmara Sea^[45]
• 1988: Establishment of Turkish Petroleum International Company (TPIC)^[46]
• 1989: TPAO ranks 298th at Fortune except USA
• 1991: Modernization in interpretation systems-3D interpretation
• 1991: The first golden year - record in production of 50 years - 75,000 barrels/day - discovery of Karakuş oil field
• 1992: Establishment of the third district management “Adıyaman District Management”^[47]
• 1993: Establishment of joint company KTM Ltd.
• 1997: First offshore production in Kuzey Marmara Field
• 1998: First oil discovery in Western Anatolia; Alaşehir-1^[48]
• 1999: TPAO initializes the first underground natural gas storage in Turkey
• 1999: Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) main export oil pipeline project^[49]
• 2001: South Caucasus Natural Gas Pipeline Project (SCP)^[50]
• 2004: First natural gas discovery in Western Black Sea; Ayazlı-1^[51]
• 2007: Second golden year: 100,000 barrels/day production
• 2007: Starting of commercial activity of Northern Marmara and Değirmenköy (Silivri) Depleted Gas Reservoir^[52]
• 2007: First natural gas production in the Black Sea
• 2009: New drilling record; the drilling of the world's 46th deepest well with a vertical depth of 7,216 m
• 2010: Deep water drilling with "Leiv Eiriksson", Sinop-1 and Yassıhöyük-1; the first deep water operatorship (Yassıhöyük-1)
• 2011: Deep water drilling, Sürmene-1 4,830 m (15,850 ft)
• 2011: Installation of Akçakoca offshore platform^[53]

Four Korean-built deepwater drillships are bought, named after four Ottoman sultans, and put into commission

• 2018: Fatih^[54]
• 2019: Yavuz
• 2020: Kanuni
• 2022: Abdülhamid Han

In 2019, TPAO made an operating loss of 239 thousand lira for each of its 3700 employees.^[55]: 38

• Company website