Turkey has begun its hydrocarbon drilling operations in Mediterranean after a 2 year halt. President Tayyip Erdogan said the new ship will operate outside waters.
President Tayyip Erdogan words
Furthermore, the president also said that the ship name, Abdulhamid Han will operate 55 kilometers off the Gazipasa region in the southern coastal province of Antalya. The 238-meter (780.84 ft) is the largest drilling ship. It is also the most technologically advance up to date ship to survey and explore the fleet. It can also drill a depth of more than 12,000 meters.
Speaking at the opening ceremony to launch the ship, the president said that the survey and drilling work conducting in the Mediterranean are within turkey sovereign territory. He further added that Turkey doesn’t need permission or consent from anyone for this.
Why the drilling
Even though natural gas in eastern Mediterranean has become an alternative energy source for Europe, it created a dispute about who shall have right over the energy source, within the neighboring countries.
Greek’s response
Greek government is currently monitoring the situation carefully according to the government. Speaking to the reporters yesterday, a Greek government spoke person said “We need to be vigilant … We’ve always been doing what we have to do to have stability in our region and to fully defend international law and our own sovereign rights,”
This is the first ship turkey is sending since withdrawing of the Yavuz drill ship. The ship was withdrawn from contested waters in September 2020. In addition, Turkey has begun hydrocarbon drilling operations since they discovered the natural gas reserve. with a volume of 540 billion cubic meters.
Turkey has not sent a drill ship since the withdrawal of the Yavuz drill ship in 2020. Turkey has been operating the Yavuz, Fatih and Kanuni drill ships until the withdrawal in 2020. The country depends on imports on its fuel energies.
