Türkiye’s Abdülhamid Han drillship sails for mission in Med Sea

MERSİN

Türkiye’s new advanced drilling ship, Abdülhamid Han, will launch drilling activities in Yörükler 1 well, 55 kilometers off Gazipaşa district of Antalya province in the Eastern Mediterranean, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Aug. 9.

“Yörükler 1 Well is the first step of our comprehensive work plan in the Eastern Mediterranean. Drilling works are in our own jurisdiction. We do not need to get permission from anyone for this,” Erdoğan said addressing the ceremony for Abdülhamid Han, Türkiye’s fourth drilling vessel, which departed from the southern port in Mersin for its first mission.

The vessel is also the symbol of Türkiye’s new vision in the field of energy, the president said and added that the country has entered a period in which it carries out seismic surveys, drilling activities, and the processes of bringing the discovered resources to the economy, which it could not have done even with money before, with its own means.

Offering his gratitude to anyone who contributed to Türkiye becoming one of the “leading” countries in the drilling of oil and natural gas, President Erdoğan noted that it had not been easy for the country to reach its current point in drilling.

“We have long been stalled with either malicious plots or well-intentioned but cowardly choices sometimes, and with overt treasons at other times. We have lost time and resources,” he said.

“While setting our 2023 goals of our country, we saw that our dependence on foreign energy is one of the problems that we need to solve first. We have decided to carry out this process with our manpower, our own data infrastructure and our technological tools in order to eliminate the intimidation caused by the wells that have been opened and covered with concrete for years,” Erdoğan stated.

Türkiye now has four drilling vessels and two seismic research vessels, he said and added, “In the seas, we have a drilling fleet that is rare in the world.”

The country’s energy cost for 2022 is expected to reach 100 billion U.S. dollars, he said and stressed that the efforts to supply local energy resources would help the country’s economy.

Türkiye, meanwhile, issued NAVTEX for the Abdülhamid Han vessel, valid until Nov.7. and three more ships will accompany the drilling vessel.

Abdülhamid Han is one of five seventh-generation ships in the world, with a maximum drilling depth of 12,200 meters (40,026 ft.).

The vessel is 238 meters (780 feet) long and 42 m (137 ft) wide and weighs 68,000 gross tons.