Kanuni

Türkiye's fourth drillship, Abdülhamid Han, will start its operations in the first half of August, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Sönmez has said.

The Abdülhamid Han is currently docked at the Taşucu Port in the southern province of Mersin, preparing for its mission.

Drillship Fatih, owned by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), started drilling its third exploration well in the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea region, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said yesterday.

Turkey has added a fourth drill ship to its fleet of other vessels that include Fatih, Yavuz and Kanuni, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez announced on Nov. 17.

In a shared infographic on his Twitter account, he said the new 238-meter-long and 42-meter-wide ship weighs 68,000 gross tons and has a maximum drilling depth of 12,200 meters.

A rare painting of Hürrem Sultan, known in the West as Roxelana and was the wife of legendry Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, was sold at a London auction for 126,000 pounds ($173,000) on Oct. 27.

A rare portrait of Suleiman I, the longest-reigning Ottoman sultan known as the Magnificent Suleiman, has been put up on display for Turkish people after it was donated to the Istanbul Municipality by an anonymous citizen who bought the artwork at an auction in London.

Turkey's cumulative natural gas discoveries of 540 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the Black Sea could cover around 12 years of Turkey's current gas demand if fully recovered, according to principal Wood Mackenzie analyst, Ashley Sherman, on June 7.

The increasing exploration and drilling efforts for new wells after Turkey's Fatih drillship discovered 405 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in the Black Sea is about to bear fruits with further gas volumes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will announce the recent developments in the field, which is expected to be about a new gas discovery.

Turkey's well tests for three wells in the offshore Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea are set to begin in May, the first of which will begin in the Türkali-2 well, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez said on April 20.

A rare 16th-century portrait of Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning Ottoman sultan, will be auctioned by Sotheby's.

The portrait of the sultan will be on live auction at Sotheby's with a starting bid of 60,000 pounds ($83,000). Estimates suggest it will be sold for around 80,000 - 120,000 pounds.

Seismic analysis activities will be conducted in a 10,000-square-meter area in the Black Sea for new natural gas discoveries, Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez told a group of journalists on March 3.

"We are aiming to drill a new exploratory well in one of the gas fields that is deemed to have potential," Dönmez said.