Turkey will send a drilling vessel to Somalia in February to carry out the country's first deepwater exploration project abroad, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday.
He said the operation with the Cagri Bey vessel will focus on offshore areas in Somali waters, but did not provide details on targeted reserves or investment size.
In 2024, Turkey signed an energy exploration deal with Somalia.
It has been seeking to diversify its energy sources and reduce reliance on imports, investing in exploration at home and overseas.
On Wednesday, a unit of state-owned Turkish Petroleum awarded a $425 million contract to Italian offshore contractor Saipem to continue the development of its Sakarya field, Turkey's largest offshore natural gas field.
Earlier in December, the company also signed hydrocarbon exploration and production agreements with Pakistani companies for three offshore and two onshore fields in Pakistan.
(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
