Turkey will speed up its energy exploration work and the development of renewable energy to reduce reliance on foreign import, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said Tuesday.

Investment in energy exploration this year will be six to eight times more than that in 2002, when the ruling Justice and Development Party came to power, Yildiz told an energy summit in Ankara.

"We're very hopeful about the ongoing exploration activities in Turkey, including the oil exploration under the Black Sea," the minister said, adding "We'll share the results of the work there very soon."

There could be 10 billion barrels of producible oil and 3 trillion cubic meters of producible natural gas in the Black Sea, which would meet Turkey's energy demand for 40 years if such reserves are found, Turkish Petroleum Corporation Director General Mehmet Uysal told the semi-official Anatolia news agency last week.

More exploration is one of the most important ways for Turkey to reduce oil import, said Yildiz.

Turkey receives around 70 percent of its energy from abroad and has plans to build several nuclear power plants to reduce foreign reliance. The government also plans to increase the ratio of renewable energy resources to 30 percent in total energy generation by 2023.

The Turkish parliament will discuss a new law for regulation of the renewable energy sector in May, Yildiz told the summit.

Tugba Gursoy, general manager of the German technical service group TUV SUD in Turkey, said his company is expanding its business in the country and looks to the potential of the renewable energy sector.

"The renewable energies are of course very interesting for us, hydropower plants, wind energy, solar automotive energy, biomass and geo-chemical energy systems are the points on which we're working very hard," Gursoy told Xinhua during the summit.

"We're waiting in Turkey now just for the legislation which will tell us the new rules and regulations in these markets," he added.

Turkey is just at a starting point in developing renewable energy and provides a lot of business opportunities, he said.

Turkey's economy expanded by an average of around 6 percent annually from 2003 to 2008 and an electricity shortfall looms as the economy recovers from the global financial crisis.