''Fatih'', ex ''Deepsea Metro II'', is a

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

- flagged sixth generation ultra deepwater

drillship A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In recent years the vessels have been used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped ...

owned and operated by the state-owned

Turkish Petroleum Corporation TPAO or Turkish Petroleum Corporation has been established in order to perform hydrocarbon exploration, drilling, production, refinery and marketing activities on behalf of the Turkish Republic with the law 6327 in 1954. Many milestones in Turki ...

(TPAO). She is Turkey's first drillship.

Name

Fatih means "Conqueror" in Turkish. The four drillships of the state-owned Turkish gas company, Fatih, Yavuz, Kanuni and Abdulhamid Han, are named after the most famous conquerors and rulers of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Mehmed I Mehmed I (; – 26 May 1421), also known as Mehmed Çelebi (, "the noble-born") or ''Kirişçi'' (, "lord's son"), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1421. Son of Sultan Bayezid I and his concubine Devlet Hatun, he fought with hi ...

(r. 1444-1446, 1451-1481), Turkish: Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Mehmed the Conqueror, who conquered Constantinople;

Selim I Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...

(r. 1512-1520), known as Selim the Resolute, Turkish: Yavuz Sultan Selim, who hugely expanded his empire; and Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566), known in Turkish as Kanunî Sultan Süleyman ("the Lawgiver"), under whom the empire reached its apex; Abdülhamid (r.1876-1909) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state.

History

''Fatih'' was built by

Hyundai Heavy Industries HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI; ) is the world's largest shipbuilding company and a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Ulsan, South Korea. History HHI was founded in 1972 by Chung Ju-yung as a division ...

Ulsan Ulsan (; ), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbo ...

, South Korea at a cost of nearly US$ 860 million, and launched on 25 November 2011. Initially named ''Deepsea Metro II'', she was owned by Chloe Marine in

Hamilton, Bermuda Hamilton is the capital city of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, and the main settlement of Pembroke Parish. A port city, Hamilton is Bermuda's financial and commercial centre, and a popular tourist destination. Its population of ...

and was operated by Odfjell Drilling in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, sailing under a

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

flag until 2018. In early 2012, she sailed to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to undergo modifications at the DCD-Dorbyl Marine shipyard in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. From May 2012, she was active offshore

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

for

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...

. The three-year contract valued at US$ 531 million. In May 2015, the work concluded. The drill was stacked on the

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

island,

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

because no other orders were received for her service. In March 2016, she was sold to Chalfont Shipping Ltd. for US$ 210 million. At the end of 2017, she was purchased by the

Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı TPAO or Turkish Petroleum Corporation has been established in order to perform hydrocarbon exploration, drilling, production, refinery and marketing activities on behalf of the Turkish Republic with the law 6327 in 1954. Many milestones in Turki ...

(TPAO), a company of the

Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources () is the government ministry of Republic of Turkey responsible for natural resources and energy in Turkey. The ministry is headed by Alparslan Bayraktar. Despite the ministry being represented on th ...

and renamed ''Fatih'' ("Conqueror"). ''Fatih'' is expected to carry out

deepwater drilling Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drilling rig for oil extraction under the deep sea. There are approximately 3400 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico with depths greater t ...

for petroleum and natural gas in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

and

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. She is Turkey's first drillship. After completing the preparation works, she was commissioned in May 2018 to carry out drilling work in the Mediterranean Sea.

Characteristics

The sixth generation ultra deepwater drillship is long, with a beam of and a draught of . Assessed at and , she has a maximum speed of and a speed of in service. The vessel is able to carry out drilling at a sea depth up to and has a maximum drill depth of . Following her arrival in Turkey, the vessel was equipped with Managed Pressure Drilling system after she was maintained. The drilling works of the vessel are supported by an in-Turkey-developed

remotely operated underwater vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) or remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is a free-swimming submersible craft used to perform underwater observation, inspection and physical tasks such as valve operations, hydraulic functions and other g ...

'' Kaşif''.

Exploration works

The vessel was commissioned on 29 October 2018 for deep-sea drilling at Alanya-1 field in Eastern

. Later, she was deployed to Finike-1 field in the same sea. For drilling in

, the vessel passed through

Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

northwards on 29 May 2020 to Tuna-1 field. On 21 August 2020, it was announced that a natural gas reserve of was explored at the field she has been conducting drilling off

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a List of cities in Turkey, city of about 100 thousand people in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Zonguldak Province and Zonguldak District. Mid October 2020, it was announced that an additional gas reserve of was explored at depth. The total reserve explored at Tuna-1 field amounts so to .

References

{{TPAO ultra-deepwater drillships Drillships 2011 ships Ships built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group Ships of Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (Turkey)

Name

History

Characteristics

Exploration works

See also

References