Page 11 - MEOG Week 15 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

TPAO drills new well at Sakarya

TURKEY TURKEY’S energy and natural resources min- in the East Mediterranean where it has been
ister Fatih Dönmez said last week that Turkish drilling in areas claimed by Cyprus, a campaign
Petroleum Corp. (TPAO) has kicked off drill- that saw the European Union impose sanctions
ing the Amasra-1 well in the Sakarya gas field, on vice-president Mehmet Ferruh Akalin and
located in the Turkish sector of the Black Sea. exploration deputy director Ali Coscun Namo-
The well is being drilled by TPAO’s first drill- glu in early 2020. The company is also under-
ship Fatih, which made the 320bn cubic metre stood to be in advanced stages of a deal with
Tuna-1 gas discovery in August last year. This Norway’s Dolphin Drilling to purchase a fourth
was subsequently upgraded to 405 bcm two drillship, identified as Bolette, though with no
months later and the field was named Sakarya. news on the deal since early February there
Amasra-1 is one of a 10-well drilling cam- may be some truth to speculation in Norwegian
paign designed to achieve first gas in 2023 at a financial press that the sanctions could compli-
rate of 3.65 bcm and a further 30 wells will be cate proceedings.
drilled to achieve a plateau of 15 bcm per year Fatih, Kanuni and the new vessel are ear-
by 2025. marked to carry out the Sakarya drilling
Last week, the company’s general manager campaign.
Melih Han Bilgin told the Turkish parliament The port on the country’s Zonguldak coast
that the wells would be drilled taking a ‘step by will be connected to the field via a dedicated 150-
step’ approach. km subsea pipeline, with the production phase
Fatih completed the drilling of the Türkali-1 managed via subsea tieback.™
and Türkali-2 appraisal wells during Q1 and
TPAO will soon begin a well testing process at
both locations.
Han Bilgin said: “We are starting the test-
ing process mid-next month. The second and
third detection wells were drilled together
with the seismic interpretations we made in
the 2,200-square km 3-D seismic area.” He said
previously that test results should be received in
June. The next well, Sakarya’s fourth, will be an
exploration well.
The drillship will soon be joined by the Kan-
uni vessel, which it acquired in April 2020, fol-
lowing the completion of maintenance which is
being carried out at the Port of Filyos.
TPAO also owns the Yavuz, which remains

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