Turkey's Fatih drill ship on Wednesday launched a new phase of exploration work in the Black Sea to search for natural gas reserves, TASS reported.

The ship will carry out its exploration for natural gas for two and a half months at a depth of 5,000 meters below sea level, Turkish Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Fatih Donmez confirmed.

On 21 August, 2020 the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced about the discovery of a large natural gas field in the Black Sea off the coast of Sakarya Province. In the near future, the president said at the time, the authorities will solve the technical issues concerning the production of gas in the field and start drilling immediately. The market value of the new gas reserves explored at the time was tentatively estimated at $180 billion.

Turkish company Turkiye Petrolleri plans to drill 40 wells in the Sakarya field on the Black Sea shelf, the explored reserves of which are estimated at 540 billion cubic meters. Turkey intends to carry out these developments independently, without attracting foreign companies.