Turkey plans to step up offshore oil and gas activity in April, with new drilling scheduled in the Black Sea and off Somalia as Ankara presses ahead with a strategy aimed at cutting its energy import bill and expanding its reach abroad, according to official statements and state media.
The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said the Abdülhamid Han drill ship began the year’s first exploration well on March 26 at the Kandıra-2 site off the northwestern province of Kocaeli. The ministry said the vessel is expected to drill to about 3,100 meters, including water depth, as Turkey looks for new reserves beyond its existing Black Sea production zones.
In April the Fatih drill ship is expected to begin work at the Eflani-1 well in the Black Sea, while the Çağrı Bey, one of two new drill ships added this year, is scheduled to start drilling at the Curad-1 well off Somalia by the end of the month, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.
Turkey’s Somalia operation was announced earlier by Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar when the Çağrı Bey departed the southern port of Taşucu on February 15. At the time Bayraktar said the vessel would reach Somalia in about 45 days and begin drilling in April, making it Turkey’s first offshore drilling mission outside its own waters. The vessel is being escorted by three Turkish navy ships.
The Somalia drilling follows seismic surveys carried out by the Oruç Reis research vessel under a 2024 energy cooperation agreement between Turkey and Somalia. Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre described the campaign in February as a historic step in bilateral energy cooperation.
Ankara has spent recent years building a larger offshore fleet as it tries to reduce dependence on imported energy, a major source of pressure on Turkey’s current account and inflation. The Black Sea remains the center of that effort, especially around the Sakarya Gas Field, where Turkey announced its biggest-ever natural gas discovery in 2020.