Türkiye's 4th drilling ship, Abdulhamid Han, is ready to embark from the Mediterranean port of Taşucu after a ceremony was held for it.
The country's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the ceremony too.
Türkiye's 4th drill ship Abdulhamid Han will be off to Yörükler-1 exploration well in the Mediterranean, President Erdoğan announced on Tuesday.
"4th drill ship Abdulhamid Han is a symbol of Türkiye in the field of energy," Erdoğan said, during the farewell ceremony of the ship in southern Mersin province.
Erdogan also noted: "We are planning to finish the operations in the 10 wells required for the first phase of Black Sea gas and to start putting the natural gas acquired from there into service for our nation in 2023."
Türkiye has a "rare" drilling fleet in world with ships of Fatih, Kanuni, Yavuz, and Abdulhamid Han, he said.
"Türkiye is now in the area of natural gas exploration with its 4 drill ships and 2 seismic research vessels."
He also stressed that the operation area of the new drilling ship is within Turkey's sovereign territory and that there is "no need for getting permission from anyone".
Abdulhamid Han ship, with seventh-generation advanced technology, has a maximum operating depth of 3,600 meters (11,811 feet), a tower height of 104 m (341 ft) and a crew capacity of 200.
The drill ship is one of the five seventh-generation ships globally, with a maximum drilling depth of 12,200 m (40,026 ft).
