ANKARA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Monday that Turkey would make an investment of around 450 million U.S. dollars in oil exploration in the Black Sea, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

    Yildiz said a giant offshore oil platform will set off from Norway this month and is expected to arrive in Turkey's northern coast in mid-December.

    He said the oil exploration work will be launched in the Black Sea as part of the cooperation with Brazil's Petrobras.

    In April 2009, Turkey's TPAO and Brazil's Petrobras, two state-owned petroleum companies, inked an agreement for the exploration of oil in the Black Sea.

    Yildiz said oil drilling work with Petrobras will last for about two or three years and end up with considerable amounts of oil reserves.