Turkey’s fourth, newest and largest drill ship, Abdülhamid Han, has commenced operations 55 kilometres off the coast of Gazipasa in the Antalya province.
The drill sight, northwest of the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, is outside waters claimed by Nicosia.
The announcement was made by Turkish Energy Minister, Fatih Donmez, who took to twitter saying: “Our drilling ship Abdülhamid Han started its first drilling in the Yörükler-1 well today.”
“We are determined to keep the joy of the Black Sea alive this time with new good news in the Mediterranean. With the sweat of our engineers and the prayers of our nation, may the luck of our ship be good and its drilling fruitful,” he added.
Abdülhamid Han sondaj gemimiz Yörükler-1 kuyusunda bugün ilk sondajına başladı. 🚢
— Fatih Dönmez (@fatih_donmez) August 17, 2022
Karadeniz'in sevincini bu kez Akdeniz'deki yeni müjdelerle yaşatmaya kararlıyız.
Mühendislerimizin alın teri ve milletimizin duasıyla gemimizin bahtı açık, sondajı bereketli olsun. pic.twitter.com/ALywbiBGzi
Turkey’s three other drilling ships: Fatih, Kanuni and Yavuz, also named after Ottoman sultans, are currently conducting operations in the Black Sea where Turkey has discovered it’s largest-ever natural gas reserve.
During the launch ceremony of the Abdülhamid Han earlier this month, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the concerns of Greece and Cyprus regarding the location of the drilling, saying: “Neither the puppets nor the ones who hold their strings will be able to prevent us from getting our rights in the Mediterranean.”
The Abdülhamid Han drillship is 238 metres long and 42 metres wide, with a drilling depth of more than 12,000 metres.
