Türkiye's 4th drill ship sets sail for 2-month exploratory stint in Med

By Ismihan Ozguven and Sezgin Pancar

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's seventh-generation drill ship, the Abdulhamid Han, will set off for its first two-month-long mission in the Mediterranean, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said on Tuesday.

The ship, dubbed the strongest of the current fleet, will drill exploration wells in the Eastern Mediterranean, Donmez said during the farewell ceremony of the vessel at the Tasucu port in the southern city of Mersin.

"The wells drilled will provide confirmation of our previous seismic data and a better understanding of underground structures," Donmez added.

The country's other ships, Yavuz and Kanuni, will continue drilling operations in the Black Sea in preparation for the delivery of first gas next year, he said.

He also confirmed that operations to bring Black Sea gas to shore are on schedule with the ongoing construction of an onshore gas processing facility and the completion of 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of shallow sea pipelaying.

Approximately 60% of the pipelaying on the 170-km (106-mi) deep seabed has finished as part of the target to complete pipelaying works in the deep sea next month.

*Writing by Zeynep Beyza Kilic