FILYOS, Oct. 18 -- A siren sounded, a mufti said a prayer, and Osman Gazi, a gas-processing platform 298.5 meters long, left Filyos Port on Saturday carrying Turkey's bet that its own Black Sea gas can reach twice as many homes, the Energy Ministry said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking by video to the ceremony, called it "the first factory of the Blue Homeland." The platform will process gas from wells in the Sakarya Gas Field and send it back to Filyos through subsea pipelines, according to Anadolu Agency's account. TEH reported in 2023 that Erdogan lit a torch at the same port to inaugurate the first gas pumping from the Black Sea, promising 40 million cubic meters a day once new wells opened.

Energy Minister Alparslan Bayrak...