"The approximate value is $65 billion. We will be conducting the seismological exploration and drilling on our own", Donmez told Turkey's TRT broadcaster.
According to the minster, Turkish state oil company TPAO was contracted to conduct the drilling, while the construction of a pipe for the transit of fuel onshore might end up tendered internationally.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the country's Faith drilling ship found a natural gas field in the Black Sea with an estimated 320 billion cubic meters of reserves.
Fatih is one of Turkey's drilling vessels in the Mediterranean in the areas that Greece and Cyprus claim as their exclusive economic zones. The persistent drilling has soured Ankara's relations both with Athens and Nicosia and the European Union.