Türkiye sends drillship to Somalia for first overseas mission

Türkiye on Sunday dispatched its deep-sea drillship Çağrı Bey to Somalia for its first mission abroad, a move Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar called a historic step in the country's offshore energy drive.

Speaking at a ceremony at Taşucu Port in Mersin, Bayraktar said the vessel is expected to reach Mogadishu in about 45 days and begin drilling in April at the Curad-1 well.

Türkiye and Somalia signed agreements in 2024 covering onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration. The seismic vessel Oruç Reis previously completed surveys in three offshore blocks.

With the addition of Çağrı Bey and Yıldırım, the number of drillships in Türkiye's fleet has risen to six, Bayraktar said. Together with the seismic vessels Oruç Reis and Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa, Türkiye now has the world's fourth-largest offshore exploration fleet, he said.

Since the beginning of the year, Türkiye has signed strategic agreements with US-based ExxonMobil and Chevron and UK-based BP in oil and gas exploration, Bayraktar said. Another overseas offshore partnership agreement with an international company is planned for next week, he added.

Bayraktar said Türkiye aims for its national oil company to reach production of around 500,000 barrels of oil and gas per day by 2028, with a longer-term goal of increasing capacity to 1 million barrels per day.

"I firmly believe that Çağrı Bey, which we are assigning to search for oil outside our territorial waters for the first time, will elevate Türkiye-Somalia relations to a higher level," Bayraktar said, wishing the crew a safe and successful mission.