Istanbul, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources / Alparslan Bayraktar / announced that his country intends to explore for oil and gas in three areas off the coast of Somalia. Bayraktar said in a press conference after attending the signing ceremony of an agreement between Ankara and Mogadishu in Istanbul regarding hydrocarbon exploration and production, with the Somali Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Abdul Razak Omar Mohamed: Turkey has become one of the countries that owns the most important fleets of deep-sea exploration ships. He added: Turkey has been able to discover important natural gas resources in the Black Sea thanks to the exploration ships it has, and it is not only exploring in its territorial waters, but will also conduct exploration operations on the coasts of several countries, and the agreement concluded with Somalia is the best evidence of that. Bayraktar pointed out that the Turkish research ship "Reis Oruç" will head to Somalia for exploration with other support ships at the end of next September. For his part, the Somali Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources said that the agreement concluded will contribute to strengthening relations between the two countries. Yesterday, Wednesday, Turkey and Niger signed a declaration of intent regarding cooperation in the field of oil and natural gas, according to a statement issued by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. The declaration aims to "support and encourage Turkish companies in developing oil and natural gas fields in Niger. Turkey has a huge fleet of survey and exploration ships led by experienced and qualified local crews to search for natural energy resources under the sea, and includes many specialized ships equipped for professional and accurate exploration, including the ship "Abdul Hamid Khan", in addition to the exploration ships Yavuz, Fatih, Kanuni and "Reis Oruç" Source: National Iraqi News Agency