A fourth Turkish drillship is on its way to the Mediterranean area
A fourth Turkish drillship, Cobalt Explorer, is on its way from South Korea to join the three other Turkish-owned vessels that are carrying out various energy explorations in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Fatih Dönmez, Turkey's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, had earlier indicated that it would acquire a fourth drillship for its fleet. He tweeted on Monday that the new drillship was on its way.
Turkey is a country with little oil and gas, and is heavily dependent on imports from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. To reduce dependence on foreign energy supplies, "the country is exploring possibilities such as drilling, nuclear power and renewable energy," a Turkish official said. "Turkey has a power generation capacity of 100,000 megawatts, of which 54,000 megawatts come from renewable sources," he added.
In recent times, Turkey has been developing a series of energy exploration activities in parts of the eastern Mediterranean, areas considered maritime territory of Greece and Cyprus. In response, both the countries involved and the European Union have on several occasions expressed international maritime violability over Turkish drilling in these areas. Meanwhile, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, has refused to withdraw the ships. All this has led to an international dispute over possible future oil and gas deposits in the Mediterranean, heightening tensions in the eastern Mediterranean.
The huge new Turkish vessel is capable of operating at a depth of 3,600 metres and has a height of 104 metres. It also offers the possibility of carrying a crew of 200. In this way, Cobalt Explorer will join the aforementioned Turkish ships carrying out energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea since 2020, according to information provided by the official Anadolu Agency: the ultra-deepwater drillship Fatih has discovered 540 billion cubic metres of natural gas reserves in the Sakarya gas field; and Kanuni and Yavuz are the other two ships drilling in the Black Sea.
The Cobalt Explorer was bought by Turkey's state-owned oil and gas company (TPAO) from South Korean chip manufacturing giant Daewoo in November last year. After a long time, Daewoo managed to sell the vessel after numerous failed purchase deals. The acquisition was made in February last year in an effort to expand its energy projects.
Looking ahead, "Turkey plans to pump gas from its Black Sea natural gas reserves into its main grid in the first quarter of 2023," state media reported. "Natural gas reserves of 540 billion cubic metres, which were found in the Sakarya gas field off the coast of Zonguldak province after 2020, have the potential to meet the needs of Turkish households for 30 years, state broadcaster TRT quoted Dönmez as saying. "Oil production accelerated thanks to the steps taken in the energy field. They plan to make Ankara a production and technology centre in the energy field," the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources said via Twitter.
The ship is scheduled to arrive in May, approximately two months from now, Anadolu reported. According to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic, Cobalt Explorer is sailing near the southern Korean peninsula towards Singapore. Meanwhile, in the wake of the Russian invasion, the international community, but especially emerging markets, are concerned about the rising price of Turkish oil.