The 143-meter-long deepwater vessel, designed specifically for reel-lay pipe installation, will install subsea pipelines to transport gas to the Osman Gazi Floating Production Unit under Phase 2 operations.
The floating production unit Osman Gazi, dispatched to the Black Sea on May 29, will then process the gas before sending it to shore.
"When Osman Gazi is ready around June-July 2026, it will go to its offshore location, these connections will be made, and we will complete the second phase and start production," Bayraktar said.
Bayraktar added that with Phase 2 the aim is to ramp up daily production by another 10 million cubic meters - increasing supply from 4 million households to 8 million. In 2028, after completion of Phase-3, this capacity is expected to quadruple.
Pipe-laying is expected to be completed early next year, and the system will be connected to Osman Gazi in mid-2026. Once fully operational, Phase-2 will deliver an additional 10 million cubic meters per day, raising total production capacity at Sakarya to 20 million cubic meters daily.
Türkiye currently operates four drillships in the Black Sea - Fatih, Yavuz, Kanuni and Abdülhamid Han - while a fifth vessel is stationed in Mersin Tasucu.
"Our sixth deep-sea drillship, or our second newly-acquired vessel, will be in Mersin on Wednesday," he announced, adding that the second new vessel will begin its duty in the Black Sea after about 1-2 months.
"In addition to boosting our current production, we are planning six new exploratory drillings in the Black Sea in 2026 at promising locations in the eastern, central and western regions," Bayraktar said.
