Drillship

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has announced a new mission in the Mediterranean of the Abdulhamid Han drillship, which is the latest addition to the Turkish Petroleum Company's (TPAO) exploration fleet.

Given that it will operate within an area of Turkish jurisdiction, Athens is not concerned, and it will not affect the Greek-Turkish rapprochement. 

Turkish media on Tuesday were reporting the purchase of a fourth drillship by the government in Ankara.

According to the newspapers Sabah and Yeni Safak, the Turkish government has signed a deal for the acquisition of the deep water drillship Bolette Dolphin, which was built in South Korea 2014 and has been used by a Norwegian company until now.

Turkey has intensified hydrocarbon exploration and drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with low oil prices has caused the temporary suspension of activities of foreign oil companies in the region.

Despite the negative consequences of the pandemic on drilling plans in the region, Turkey is expanding its operations.

A story on cyberattacks published today in Kathimerini sheds light on a deficiency in Greece's national security policy. At the same time, it also points to the fact that the public discourse on national defense is being conducted with terminology from the previous century.

Cyprus' government spokesman on Thursday backpedaled on a claim that Turkey may have stolen technical data it used to pinpoint a target for gas drilling in waters where the island nation has exclusive economic rights.

Ankara's announcement on Friday that it is dispatching a vessel to conduct drilling operations off northeastern Cyprus coupled with a spike in Turkish violations of Greek airspace is being seen as a response to, if not an outright snub of sanctions announced a few days ago by the European Union Foreign Affairs Council over its activities within the Eastern Mediterranean island's territorial wat

The Turkish drillship Yavuz has withdrawn from the coastal waters off Cyprus, just south of the Karpasia (Kaspas) peninsula where it had aimed to prospect for hydrocarbons, it emerged on Tuesday. 

The vessel moved to the Turkish port of Tasucu and is now located opposite the Karpasia peninsula for reasons that remained unclear. 

Turkey may acquire a third drillship, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been quoted as saying amid lingering tension in the Eastern Mediterranean over natural gas resources off ethnically-divided Cyprus.

Turkey issued a new Navigational Telex (Navtex) on Thursday night, reserving a maritime area in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for drilling activities, Cypriot news outlet Politis reported.

The new Navtex concerns the activities of the Turkish drillship Fatih, and will come into force as of September 4.

The US State Department on Tuesday called on Turkish authorities to cease immediately any "unlawful activities" in Cyprus' territorial sea and remove its drillship, Yavuz.
Turkey has already established a presence in the region with its Yavuz and Fatih drillships and the Barbaros research vessel.