Turkish state-run petroleum company TPAO plans to establish four off-shore drilling sites next year, one being deep-water drilling, according to sources from the Ministry of Energy, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The ministry has increased efforts to expand Turkey's domestic oil and gas supply, which is currently very limited, both in domestic terms and with foreign partners.
A 33.3 pct rise in funds
In this vein, the allocated funds for TPAO is planned to reach up to 1.4 billion Turkish Liras in 2014 from a 33.3 percent increase from this year.
TPAO's seismic ship, named "Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha," has continued its oil and gas exploration activities since the beginning of 2013.
Meanwhile, the government launched a series of activities to develop a ship which can make two-dimensional and three-dimensional off-shore explorations under the guidance of the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA).
A tender was then held for this purpose. Turkey's General Directorate of Defense Industry and the winning company have started to develop the ship, which is scheduled to be completed by 2015.
The MTA will also make more investments in mining and geothermal explorations, raising its funds up to 200 million liras in 2014, a 25 percent increase from this year.