Turkey ready to deploy Oruc Reis in a month, says energy minister

Turkey’s Oruc Reis seismic survey vessel will be ready to carry out exploratory research for natural gas and oil within “a month,” the country’s energy minister indicated on Tuesday.

“Our Oruc Reis seismic research ship was capable mainly of carrying out two-dimensional seismic surveys before. Now it is able to perform three-dimensional seismic research, just like the Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa. The equipment is currently being assembled and in a month, I hope, we will complete the modernization work here and send it to the new location,” Minister Fatih Donmez said during a visit to the Black Sea port of Filyos.

Donmez did not specify the location, but the research vessel had been deployed in 2020 and 2021 to conduct surveys off the coast of Cyprus and in the Aegean.

Athens and Nicosia have been bracing for a new foray that could cause tension in the Eastern Mediterranean to spike even further.