2nd drillship to enter Turkey's waters in December

Turkey's second drillship will enter the country's waters in December and start drilling activities in the Black Sea, according to Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez.

Turkey's first drillship, Fatih, named after Istanbul's conqueror Fatih Sultan Mehmet, made its way to the Mediterranean in late October to start drilling the Alanya-1 well, offshore of Alanya, near the Mediterranean town of Antalya.

Indicating that Turkey initiated a serious move to drill for oil and gas, Dönmez said: "Last year, Turkey bought its own drillship for the first time. In the past weeks, Fatih started drilling off the coast of Antalya. Now its brother with the same technical features is coming. It will enter our waters in December. This ship can drill about two times a year. Our seismic work in the Mediterranean has been continuing for seven to eight years now. We analyzed that work to locate the most hydrocarbon reserves; you have to go through a lot of details."

He explained that the Fatih drillship has a work program of five months. "We will finish drilling there in three to four weeks. We will be 5,500 to 6,000 meters below sea level. It's a very technological ship. There are five or six ships in the world with the same features. We have one of them, and the second ship has similar features, and we are preparing its work program. It will continue to drill most probably in the Black Sea."

Dönmez also announced that Turkey would start drilling off the coast of Mersin today. "Everything is ready. We will continue our search there. We increased the search number on land. On land, in the sea, we will find whatever there is."