ANKARA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish government announced on Wednesday that it will provide incentives for the project to develop a natural gas field in the Black Sea, according to a presidential decree published in the Turkey's official gazette.

       The government will provide exemptions from customs duty, and value-added tax, along with other tax reductions for the project, which aims to develop the "Sakarya Gas Field" off the coast of Turkey's northern province of Zonguldak.

       The project has a fixed investment of 145.1 billion Turkish lira (9.9 billion dollars) and will employ 1,018 people and produce 14 billion standard cubic meters of natural gas every year, the decree said.

       Turkey has discovered 540 billion cubic meters of gas in the Black Sea so far and aims to start pumping in the first quarter of 2023.