NEW DELHI, June 11 (Reuters) - ExxonMobil is intalks with TPAO to buy a stake in a block in the Black Sea, theacting head of the Turkish state-owned energy company toldReuters on Tuesday.
"ExxonMobil wants to be in the Black Sea with us, in deepoffshore," TPAO's acting president and chief executive, BesimSisman, said on the sidelines of a conference here.
"It's on the Ukraine and Romania side," he added, withoutgiving further details.
Turkey has stepped up exploration efforts in the Black Seaand Mediterranean in cooperation with foreign companies as ittries to reduce its import dependence. In its exploration workin the Black Sea, Turkey has yet to find any oil.
Sisman said TPAO would not bid for blocks in Algeria andadded that in Iraq, "we have four projects and that is enoughfor us".
He said TPAO would join the latest bidding round for blocksoffshore in Lebanon with Royal Dutch Shell, which italready partners with in the Mediterranean and in shaleexploration.