revealed that Turkey is ready even for a military confrontation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus if the extraction of natural gas from Plot 12. “The official policy of Turkey is waiting to Cyprus to enter the production stage to take decisive action. A military confrontation is possible until then, although the naval conflicts will occur at a moderate way, “writes analyst firm Stratfor, adding that there is always a margin of error that would escalate the situation.
via *** Wikileaks / Cyprus EEZ: H Turkey is ready even for a military confrontation | FreshCyprus.
Turkey must cooperate for a Cyprus solution in order to materialize its policy priorities concerning the EU and the region, President Demetris Christofias said today.
While addressing the book presentation of the Head of the Presidencys office of research on Turkish policy, Nikos Moudouros on The transition of Turkey, from Kemalist dominance to Islamic neoliberalism, the President spoke on the role of the Turkish leadership in sidelining the former leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community Rauf Denktash, while promoting the acceptance of the Annan Plan in 2004.
He characterized the developments of the time as a turning point in Turkeys shift concerning its Cyprus position, in favor of a solution with an ill-defined content and the parallel promotion of the illegal state entity Ankara set up in the occupied areas of Cyprus, following the islands 1974 invasion.
The President went on by saying that Turkey is violating all relevant UN resolutions concerning Cyprus, while he noted that Ankara aims at provoking tension in the region, on the occasion of the Republics activities in its exclusive economic zone.
This behavior is detrimental to Turkeys EU aspirations, President Christofias said, while he noted that the burden of its illegal activities in Cyprus hinders Ankara from assuming a role in political brokerage in the region.
Turkey, whose troops occupy Cyprus northern part since they invaded in 1974, does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus.
Recently, Nicosia announced in the Official Journal of the EU a call for an international tender for off-shore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation within the Republics Economic Exclusive Zone, signaling the initiation of a second round of licensing, after 2007.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Nicosias new licensing round for exploration activity in the area could lead to tension in the region.
In response to Cypriot exploration activities, Ankara has in the past deployed warships in the Eastern Mediterranean and has signed an illegal agreement with the Turkish Cypriot regime in occupied Cyprus to delineate what it calls continental shelf.
The government of Cyprus has protested to the UN and the EU Turkeys moves, saying it has a sovereign right to exploit its natural resources, pointing out that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will benefit from any benefits that may come from oil drilling.
Cyprus has signed an agreement to delineate the Exclusive Economic Zone with Egypt and Israel with a view to exploit any possible natural gas and oil reserves in its EEZ. A similar agreement has been signed with Lebanon but the Lebanese Parliament has not yet ratified it.
(Updates with closing share price in 10th paragraph.)
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) — Noble Energy Inc.’s plans to develop as much as 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the coast of Cyprus may be complicated by a dispute with Turkey over development of the field.
The discovery may hold 5 trillion to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, Houston-based Noble Energy said in a statement today. The field, which lies in the Mediterranean Sea between Cyprus and Israel, covers 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) and requires more appraisal before development, the company said.
Turkey doesn’t recognize the Greek Cypriot government and in September it sent an exploration vessel accompanied by warships and fighter jets to the area after Noble started drilling. Cyprus is divided after Turkey invaded the northern third of the island in 1974. Development projects should await resolution of the island’s political status, Turkey has said.
“The politics are going to get more and more complicated as you get closer to development,” said John Malone, an analyst at Global Hunter Securities LLC in New York.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon summoned Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and Dervish Eroglu, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, to New York for a new round of talks in January to reunify the island.
The discovery is in his nation’s “exclusive economic zone,” Christofias said at a press conference in Nicosia today. “Cyprus is coming into Europe’s energy map with prospects of substantially contributing to the EU’s energy security.”
Levant Basin
The U.S. Geological survey estimates that the Levant Basin, a triangular slice of the Mediterranean lying between Cyprus and Israel, may hold 122 trillion cubic feet of gas. Noble Energy discovered about 9 trillion cubic feet of gas at the Tamar field in 2009 and as much as 20 trillion cubic feet at the Leviathan field in 2010, both off the Israeli coast.
The Cyprus field is the first discovered off the nation’s coast. At current gas prices of about $4 per million British thermal units, the find would be worth $32 billion, said Constantinos Hadjitassou, energy researcher at the University of Cyprus.
Noble Energy operates the Cyprus well and owns a 70 percent share. Delek Drilling-LP and Avner Oil Exploration LLP each hold a 15 percent stake, it said.
Noble Energy fell 1.7 percent to $94.02 at the close in New York. Expectations for the Cyprus field were high, Michael Hall, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co., wrote in a note to clients, and “were recently increased following the upgrade of Leviathan potential and rumors that Cyprus could represent Noble’s largest eastern Mediterranean prospect.”
More Drilling
Avner climbed to the highest level since April 28, advancing 2 percent to 2.418 shekels at the close in Tel Aviv. Delek gained 1.6 percent to 14.15 shekels, the highest since Jan. 17.
Cyprus’s government announced a second oil and gas licensing round on Nov. 23 that will cover 12 of 13 blocks in the ocean south of the island. Turkey said on Dec. 9 it will begin exploring for oil and gas off the northern part of Cyprus it controls within two months.
With enough to supply Cyprus for 150 years, gas from the Noble Energy discovery will be exported from the Mediterranean to Western Europe, said Pierre Godec, an oil-industry consultant. Exports will be complicated by historic tension among Cyprus’s Greek community and Turkey, said Godec, a former managing director of Elf Exploration UK Plc.
A pipeline for exports would have to be connected to systems that cross Turkey, he said. A plant to liquefy the fuel and ship it overseas would probably process gas from fields in Cyprus and Israel, Godec said.
“The whole area has good prospects for some more discoveries,” he said. “That is is going to change substantially the whole profile of Cyprus for the next five to 10 years.”
–With assistance from David Wethe in Houston and Benjamin Haas in New York. Editors: Tina Davis, Will Wade
Ankara says will not stand for Israel-Cyprus independent gas exploration in east Mediterranean
Ynet
Published: 11.05.11, 18:56 / Israel Business
Ankara will not allow for any independent natural gas exploration projects in the east Mediterranean, Turkey’s Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communications Binali Yildirim told the Turkish Daily Hurriyet on Saturday.
Yildirim’s statement followed a comment made by President Shimon Peres, who – while on a State visit to Cyprus – lauded Israel’s joint gas exploration projects with Cyprus.
Turkey will not stand for any “threats” by Israel over its proprietary interests, he said: “The Turkish ‘road map’ on the matter is clear… No project will be allowed to take place without Turkey’s consent.”
Much of Peres’ visit to Nicosia focused on Israel and Cyprus’ collaborations in the field of maritime gas exploration. But the matter is at the heart of growing tensions between Turkey and Cyprus.
Ankara and Nicosia have launched UN-brokered negotiations to try and resolve the gas rights dispute.
The Cypriot government is under contract with Noble Energy, which is partially owend by Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva. Cyprus is set to hold gas explorations in an area bordering Israel’s territorial waters, where a vast depository of natural gas is believed to exist.
The area is adjacent to the Levitan offshore rig.
Israel and Cyprus have recently signed a new cooperation agreement in the field of energy development, exploration and conservation.
via Turkey warns Israel against ‘threatening’ gas proprietorship – Israel Business, Ynetnews.
Israeli President Shimon Peres (L) shaking hands with Cypriot President Demetris Christofias (AFP/PIO, Christos Avraamides)
NICOSIA — Visiting Israeli President Shimon Peres said in Cyprus on Thursday that gas finds in the Mediterranean Sea were no threat to Turkey but a positive step for the region.
“We are going to use the gas the way peaceful and democratic people should use it,” said Peres during an official visit to the eastern Mediterranean island, whose maritime exclusive economic zone borders that of Israel.
“We are not going to waste it, we are not going to play with it, we are not going to use it for the wrong purposes,” he added.
In December, Cyprus and Israel signed an agreement defining their maritime border that allows the neighbours to forge ahead in the search for energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean.
At the end of September, US firm Noble Energy began exploratory drilling for gas off divided Cyprus’s southern coast, ignoring Ankara’s warnings that Turkey would retaliate by launching its own explorations in the area.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s relations with Israel have worsened since May 2010, when Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of six ships trying to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, killing nine Turkish activists.
Israel’s closer ties with Cyprus in the energy field have strained relations with Ankara even further.
But Peres said: “Our discoveries are not against anyone; our discoveries are for the people.”
“We look upon gas, not as a power, but as an occasion to better the life of the people. We shall do it peacefully.”
The visit of the veteran Israeli politician and Nobel Prize winner is a landmark in burgeoning Cyprus-Israel relations, which have not always been this amicable.
Peres said Israel did not want to forge alliances “based on military strengths but seek cooperation based on goodwill.”
“I never said that we are enemies to the Turks, we are friends with the Turks.”
Turkey repeatedly called on Cyprus to postpone its gas exploration, saying the Greek Cypriot side has no right to do so while the island remains split, thus leaving the Turkish north out of the picture.
In retaliation, it sent a ship of its own to carry out explorations, drawing protests from Cyprus.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece.
It says its hydrocarbon search is to the benefit of all Cypriots and the island has every right under international law to do so.
After talks with Peres on Thursday Cyprus President Demetris Christofias said Turkey’s negative reaction was “outside acceptable norms of behaviour.”
“We are witnessing once again the provocative and aggressive stance of Ankara.”
The United Nations and Washington have appealed for calm on the issue while the European Union has urged Turkey not to issue threats against member state Cyprus.
Both the EU and UN are worried that the energy row — which also involves Greece — could derail Cyprus peace talks that are faltering after three years of painstaking negotiations.
Noble has no exact estimate of the hydrocarbon deposits inside Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, but has said seismic surveys were “very favourable” indicating a “sizeable quantity.”
Israeli company Delek is a partner of Noble, which has reported large reserves of natural gas in two Israeli offshore fields.
Delek and its Texan partner announced the discovery of 16 trillion cubic feet (453 billion cubic metres) of natural gas in the Leviathan gas field some 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone. It said to be one of the biggest finds in a decade.
Gas was also found in Israel’s Tamar block even closer to the Mediterranean island.
ANKARA: Turkey will send another vessel for gas and oil exploration off Cyprus on Monday, the energy minister said Sunday amid escalating tension over prospecting off the divided island.
It will set sail from Turkey’s southern Antalya port for the Mediterranean on Monday morning, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told the Anatolia news agency on Sunday.
The ship will prospect for gas and oil in a 1,100 square-kilometre area and stay for 40 days in the Mediterranean, he added.
Regional tensions have risen since the Cyprus government, recognised internationally but not by Turkey, struck a deal with US energy firm Noble, which has already started exploratory drilling for gas off the southern coast of Cyprus.
In retaliation, Turkey sent a ship, Piri Reis, to the region in September after signing an accord with the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which only Ankara recognises, for gas exploration.
Piri Reis will also continue gas exploration activities, the minister said.
He also announced that Turkey had another ship prospecting gas and oil in the Mediterranean after an agreement with an international company, which he said has not been publicised so far.
“So, as of tomorrow we will have three vessels in the Mediterranean,” said Yildiz.
The gas exploration “will continue in the north and south and even in the western parts of the island,” he added.
Turkey says the Cyprus government has no right to conduct offshore energy exploration while UN-backed talks on reunifying the island are ongoing.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece.
With the island now a member of the European Union, the Cyprus dispute is a major obstacle to Turkey realising its ambitions of joining the bloc.
Turkey has threatened to freeze its ties with the EU if Cyprus takes the rotating presidency of the bloc as scheduled next year before a solution is reached on the island’s future.
via THE DAILY STAR :: Business :: Middle East :: Turkey to send another ship for gas search off Cyprus.
revealed that Turkey is ready even for a military confrontation in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus if the extraction of natural gas from Plot 12. “The official policy of Turkey is waiting to Cyprus to enter the production stage to take decisive action. A military confrontation is possible until then, although the naval conflicts will occur at a moderate way, “writes analyst firm Stratfor, adding that there is always a margin of error that would escalate the situation.
