The gigantic platform named as Leiv Eirikson started its journey from Norway in the beginning of December and entered the Ystanbul Bosphorus at 700 hours on Thursday (December 31). The platform had to take off its towers to pass under the Bosphorus Bridge and its height was reduced to 86 meters from 122 meters.
The platform passed the strait successfully and it was escorted by the coastguard boats.
The platform will anchor off the coast of Sinop and will start drilling in February.
This is world's second largest platform and it can drill down to 10 thousand meters. It will drill to the depth of 5 thousand 500 meters in the Black sea and it has an 85% success ratio so far while the initial data is expected after 6 months.
The daily rent for the platform is one million dollars/day that has been rented for three years and Turkey has the option of two more years. An amount of 450 million dollars has been allocated for this advantageous project and according to the agreement if no petroleum or natural gas is found as a result of drilling Turkey will have a zero cost for the project.