Mersin, Turkey – Turkey on Sunday dispatched a new deep-sea drillship to Somalia, launching Ankara’s first offshore drilling campaign beyond its own waters and raising the stakes on a frontier exploration bet off the Horn of Africa.
Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar oversaw a send-off ceremony at Taşucu port in Mersin as the seventh-generation “ultra-deepwater” drillship Çağrı Bey began a long voyage south, accompanied by Somali officials from the energy and maritime sectors.
Bayraktar said the vessel would be the first Turkish drilling ship to operate outside national waters, following the earlier deployment of a seismic research ship that mapped potential targets in Somali offshore blocks.
The minister said the ship’s trip to Mogadishu would take about 45 days and would not pass through the Suez Canal, but instead circle via the Atlantic and Africa’s western coastline.
Historic step
Turkish officials say that once the voyage ends, Çağrı Bey will drill an exploratory well in Somali waters called “Curad-1” — Somali for “firstborn” — aiming for about 7,500 metres, a demanding operation that usually comes with high costs and uncertain results.
Bayraktar cast the mission as a turning point for Turkey’s expanding energy ambitions, telling an event in Ankara a day earlier that the country would take “another historic step” by sending the vessel to search for oil off the coast of Somalia.
“This year will be a year of discoveries and good news for us,” he said.
Turkey has not revealed the investment size, precise drilling location, or results timeline.
Turkish officials have said the first overseas deepwater drilling operation is expected to begin in Somalia in February under a 2024 energy cooperation framework between the two countries.
The drilling push follows a months-long offshore survey by Turkey’s Oruç Reis seismic vessel, dispatched from Istanbul in October 2024 under the bilateral energy deal.
Turkey’s energy ministry has said Oruç Reis collected 3D seismic data over 4,464 square kilometres across three offshore blocks, completing a 234-day mission on June 6, 2025.
Seismic surveys can identify underground structures that may trap hydrocarbons, but only drilling can confirm whether oil or gas is present, and whether it can flow at commercially viable rates.
Frontier deepwater wells often take weeks to drill and then require testing and analysis before companies can judge whether a discovery is worth developing.
Decade-long ties
For Somalia, the arrival of a deepwater drillship is the most concrete step yet in a relationship with Turkey that began with humanitarian engagement and steadily widened into infrastructure, education, and security cooperation.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Mogadishu in August 2011 during a devastating famine, after which Turkey expanded its diplomatic and aid footprint.
In 2017, Turkey opened its biggest overseas military base in Mogadishu, a major training hub that anchored Ankara’s long-term role in building Somali security forces.
Last year, the two governments formalised a new security framework focused on Somalia’s long coastline, including Turkish support intended to bolster maritime security and counter illegal activities at sea.
They also signed an offshore oil and natural gas cooperation agreement covering exploration and production as well as downstream activities, as part of Ankara’s effort to expand its energy footprint.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has portrayed resource development as a pillar of economic recovery, as Somalia seeks to widen domestic revenues while fighting a long-running Islamist insurgency and rebuilding institutions after decades of conflict.
Energy drive
For Ankara, the Somali operation fits a wider energy strategy that mixes domestic production with overseas ventures, at a time when Turkey remains a major importer of oil and gas.
Bayraktar has repeatedly argued that reducing import dependence is essential to economic resilience, while also advocating expanding domestic gas output in the Black Sea and ramping up drilling activity across multiple coastal provinces.
Turkey is also betting on nuclear power. The $20 billion Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Mersin province – built by Rosatom – is expected to have a total capacity of 4.8 gigawatts.
Turkish officials have said that once all four reactors are operational, the plant should provide around 10 percent of the country’s electricity demand.
The combination of Black Sea gas, nuclear power, and new exploration campaigns is central to the government’s narrative of “energy independence” – a phrase Turkish officials link to greater fiscal room and geopolitical autonomy.
High-risk bet
Many geologists see Somalia’s offshore basins as promising, but the area is still lightly explored compared with other African coasts, mainly because of insecurity, weak institutions, and—until recently—a lack of steady, high-quality seismic surveys.
That makes Curad-1 a high-impact test. A dry hole would temper expectations and likely slow momentum.
A discovery, even a modest one, could ignite a rush of interest – while also heightening scrutiny of governance, revenue-sharing, and security in a country where politics is often volatile.
For now, both sides say the mission shows their partnership is moving from signing papers to drilling ships at sea.
As Çağrı Bey left Turkey’s southern coast, Bayraktar said the drilling push marked a shift beyond domestic exploration, casting Turkey as an “energy actor” able to operate abroad through partnerships—though the claim depends on what the drill bit finds beneath the seabed.
