Türkiye sending its fourth drillship on first drilling mission

Turkish government and its national oil and gas company TPAO are now sending the country’s fourth drillship on its first drilling mission.

The drillship, named Abdülhamid Han, was bought last year from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. As previously reported by Offshore Energy, the vessel departed from South Korea in March 2022. The yard had been looking for a buyer for the ill-fated drillship for years and TPAO was its third and final customer.

Following its arrival in Türkiye in May, preparations started at Taşucu port for its first mission, expected to be in the Mediterranean, with expectations for it to be ready as early as July. The vessel’s new name was revealed in June just as TPAO started laying pipes in the Black Sea as part of its giant Sakarya gas field project development.

Saipem’s Castoro 10 vessel was in charge of laying the pipes in the shallow water while the Castorone vessel was in charge of the deeper sections.

Now, following the completion of drilling capability tests, marine tests, and system & equipment tests, the Abdülhamid Han is ready for its first mission and the ceremony to mark this is being held at Mersin port today, 9 August.

The 7th generation drillship is 238 meters long and 42 meters wide with a tower height of 104 meters and a maximum drilling depth capability of 12,200 meters.

President Recep Erdoğan is attending the ceremony, as stated on the Official Site of the Presidency of Türkiye. Fatih Dönmez, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, confirmed the ceremony is being held today.

In his speech during the ceremony, President Erdoğan emphasised that the country now has a fleet of four drillships and two seismic vessels, boasting this is a rare thing in the world. He said the rig is the symbol of the country’s new vision in the field of energy.

“While determining the 2023 targets of our country, we saw that our foreign dependency on energy is one of the problems that we need to solve first,” he said. Therefore, the country decided to carry out this process with its own manpower, data infrastructure, and technological tools.

The rig’s first assignment is to drill the well Yörükler-1, which is located 55 kilometres off Gazipaşa.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, TPAO confirmed the drillship was appointed to its duty in the Mediterranean with the goal of an energy-independent Türkiye.

[The article has been updated following the release of official information by the Turkish government.]