Turkey will begin drilling for oil or gas off northern Cyprus at the end of March, having already carried out seismic studies, the head of state energy company TPAO said on Monday.
Any gas discovery in this area could raise the stakes in the negotiations over reunification of the island, and possibly increase tensions with Israel.
EU-member Cyprus, run by a Greek Cypriot government, started exploring for gas south of the island in September 2011, angering Turkey, which acts as the protector of the Turkish Cypriot separatists in the north.
In reaction, Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot administration signed a pact paving the way for exploration, and dispatched its only seismic research vessel, owned by TPAO, to those waters under naval escort to search for potential reserves.
“We’re starting drilling in northern Cyprus in the coming days…We have started shipping our equipment there,” TPAO chief executive Mehmet Uysal told Reuters on Monday, adding that drilling would start before the end of March.
“If there is a need to drill in areas where the licenses clash then we would take all measures,” he said, without elaborating on what that meant.
Despite warnings from Ankara to the Greek Cypriot government not to let Texas-based Noble Energy drill an offshore block, Noble’s drill went ahead and struck gas on the first attempt, potentially offering the island an energy source that can be used to produce the entire country’s electricity supply and possibly offer an export option for excess fuel.
Although it has limited fuel resources of its own, Turkey is surrounded by some of the biggest gas reserves in the world and is positioning itself as a key transit hub for Russian and central Asian gas supplies to Europe.
“We’re hoping this will be a peace project because Turkey is the main outlet for this gas,” Uysal said.
“All these companies drilling will have to send the gas to Europe and Turkey is the main route.”
Large oil and gas deposits recently discovered in the eastern Mediterranean threaten to exacerbate a number of existing tensions.
In addition to the Turkish-Cypriot dispute, Israel and Lebanon are also at odds over their maritime border.
Beirut contends Israel’s proposed border encroaches into Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone, denying the Lebanese part of the lucrative Leviathan basin.
The Nicosia government signed a treaty with Tel Aviv last year which committed the two states to cooperating on developing their offshore oil projects.
The head of the Lebanese parliament’s Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water Committee said the move by Turkey made relations between the four countries more difficult.
“I think this will complicate the issue which is already complicated,” Mohammad Qabbani said.
“I think that there should be negotiations so that everybody will take their right. Except for Lebanon with Israel – we will not negotiate, we will ask for southern borders to be respected.”
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri visited Cyprus last month following a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Berri is believed to have warned Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias against warming ties with Israel.
The parliament speaker threatened that Lebanon would not ratify a 2007 agreement demarcating the maritime border between the two states unless Cyprus renegotiates its maritime agreement with Israel.
Qabbani said the Cypriots had suggested that they were willing to seek a deal.
“[Berri] said that the Cypriot officials were being objective and receptive to his point of view. It is for us to wait and see how they continue from there on.”
Lebanon has yet to commence exploration and drilling of its offshore oil and gas deposits, including those not straddling its southern maritime border with Israel.
(Al-Akhbar, Reuters)
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