Turkish Forum

Tag: oil and gas exploration

  • Talk turns bellicose as Turkey debuts a warship

    Talk turns bellicose as Turkey debuts a warship

    By IPEK YEZDANI

    McClatchy Newspapers

    ISTANBUL — Turkey officially accepted delivery of its first domestically manufactured warship Tuesday at a ceremony that underscored the country’s push to become a regional power.

    Turkish Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the occasion to criticize oil drilling in the eastern Mediterranean by Greek interests. He pointedly noted that the ceremony took place on the 473rd anniversary of the Battle of Preveza in northwestern Greece, where a fleet from the Ottoman Turkish empire defeated a much larger Christian force.

    “I recommend the international community take the necessary lessons from the Preveza victory”, Erdogan said. “Turkey’s national interests in the seas reach from its surrounding waters to the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean.”

    President Abdullah Gul said the delivery of the ship showed that Turkey was now capable of developing its own weapons. He urged his country to make greater efforts to develop an independent arms capability, no matter how much work that might require.

    “Even countries whose national income is much below ours decided to make nuclear weapons because their rivals have them,” Gul said. “They made it happen after deciding to do so.”

    Turkey has been critical of both Greek and Israeli oil exploration in the Mediterranean, and Turkey has threatened to use its navy to escort future efforts to break the Israeli embargo of the Gaza Strip. Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and abrogated several military agreements with Israel last month after Israel refused to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish citizens who were on board a Gaza-bound Turkish ship when it was intercepted by Israeli commandos in 2009.

    The ship delivered Tuesday, the TCG Heybeliada, is a 300-foot corvette that was designed with stealth technology and is equipped with an anti-ship missile system. It was built under Turkey’s so-called MILGEM program, from the Turkish words “milli gemi” (national ship). More than 65 percent of the ship’s components were built by Turkish companies.

    A second ship, the TCG Buyukada, is undergoing sea trials under the program, which is overseen by the Turkish navy.

    via Talk turns bellicose as Turkey debuts a warship – World Wires – MiamiHerald.com.

  • Turkish Ship Explores Off Southern Cyprus

    Turkish Ship Explores Off Southern Cyprus

    By MARC CHAMPION

    ISTANBUL—A Turkish oil and gas research ship is exploring off southern Cyprus in an area near the exploration rig operated by U.S. independent Noble Energy Inc., a Turkish foreign ministry official said, in a further escalation of a conflict over drilling rights.

    European Pressphoto Agency Turkey's oil exploration vessel Piri Reis leaves from Urla Port to the Mediterranean in Izmir, Turkey, on Friday.
    European Pressphoto Agency Turkey's oil exploration vessel Piri Reis leaves from Urla Port to the Mediterranean in Izmir, Turkey, on Friday.

    Turkey’s oil exploration vessel Piri Reis leaves from Urla Port to the Mediterranean in Izmir, Turkey, on Friday.

    The official said Tuesday that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was “trying to send a message” to the government in the divided island’s Greek south that it, too, believes it has a right to oil and natural gas reserves in Cypriot waters.

    “The TRNC issued a license to [Turkiye Petrolleri A.O.] to explore all around the island,” said Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry. The ship, called the Piri Reis, “is 60 to 70 nautical miles away from the area where Noble Energy is drilling, and is just off Limassol.”

    Limassol is a town on the southern edge of Cyprus. The island has been divided between Greek and Turkish halves since 1974, when Turkey’s military invaded in the wake of a Greek military coup. Turkey still keeps thousands of troops on the island.

    Turkey is the only country to recognize the Northern Cypriot government, while the Cypriot government in the south is internationally recognized as the legitimate government for the island as a whole. It is also a European Union member. However, Ankara argues that neither side should begin exploiting the island’s oil and natural gas reserves until talks aimed at reunifying the island are complete.

    Cyprus says it has a right to exploit its sovereign waters and is motivated solely by the likely availability of natural gas—known since a major field was discovered in nearby Israeli waters. Turkey says the Cypriot move to start drilling is a ploy to undermine the reunification talks.

    In order to increase pressure on the Cypriot side, Turkey last week signed its own bilateral agreement with Northern Cyprus to delimit the continental shelf between Cyprus and Turkey. That agreement mirrors similar agreements that the Greek Cypriot government has made with Israel, Egypt and Lebanon. In addition, the North’s de facto government agreed that Turkiye Petrolleri could explore throughout Cypriot waters.

    It wasn’t clear whether the Piri Reis, named after a 16th century Ottoman admiral and cartographer, on Tuesday was inside Block 12, the area that Noble Energy has contracted to explore.

    Ankara also sent naval vessels to protect the Piri Reis and threatened to blacklist any foreign companies that drill under license from the Cypriot government, meaning that they would be banned from winning any exploration licenses in Turkey’s extensive Mediterranean waters.

    Northern Cyprus has said it will stop exploring for oil and gas in the island’s waters as soon as the Greek Cypriot side does. Ankara has alleged bad faith on the part of the Cypriot government, since the Greek south rejected a United Nations reunification plan put to referendum in 2004. The North accepted. Soon afterward, Cyprus joined the EU and has since been instrumental in blocking Turkey’s efforts to join the bloc.

    Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

    via Turkish Ship Explores Off Southern Cyprus – WSJ.com.

  • Christofias Says Turkey’s Moves on Cyprus Oil Risk New Conflict

    Christofias Says Turkey’s Moves on Cyprus Oil Risk New Conflict

    By Bill Varner – Sep 22, 2011 7:16 PM GMT+0200

    Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said Turkey’s moves to extract oil and gas from waters off the divided Mediterranean Sea island are illegal provocations that risk a renewal of hostilities.

    “Turkish naval maneuvers in the region of Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone, where exploration is being carried out, are provocative and a real danger for further complications in the region,” Christofias said in a speech today to the United Nations General Assembly.

    “I wish, from this esteemed podium, to condemn this illegal act which constitutes a provocation, not only for the Republic of Cyprus but also for the entire international community,” Christofias said. “Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership are trying to create tension and new illegal faits- accomplis.”

    Turkey, which invaded Cyprus in 1974 and is the only country to recognize the Turkish Cypriot north as an independent nation, disputes Cyprus’s right to explore for hydrocarbons in its Exclusive Economic Zone and has sent warships to the area.

    Reunification talks resumed in 2008 after Greek Cypriots, who run the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus in the south, rejected a UN-sponsored settlement plan.

    A Turkish vessel will sail tomorrow to begin seismic exploration for oil and gas in waters of the Mediterranean north of Cyprus, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said today.

    Also today, in a statement released by his government’s press office, Christofias gave a “guarantee” that Turkish Cypriots will benefit from offshore discoveries before the island is unified. The continental-shelf agreement announced yesterday by Turkey and northern Cyprus is “unacceptable,” Christofias said in the statement.

    Christofias also told the General Assembly that the unification talks have been set back by what he described as Turkish Cypriot “retracting on the negotiation table, including from previously found convergences.” The change in the Turkish Cypriot position, he said, “feeds on recent negative and provocative policy of Turkey in the region.”

    To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

    via Christofias Says Turkey’s Moves on Cyprus Oil Risk New Conflict – Bloomberg.

  • Drilling Off Cyprus Will Proceed Despite Warnings From Turkey

    Drilling Off Cyprus Will Proceed Despite Warnings From Turkey

    By SEBNEM ARSU

    ISTANBUL — In the face of menacing warnings from Turkey on Monday, the Greek Cypriot government said it was proceeding with exploratory drilling for oil and gas off the coast of the disputed island.

    Turkey called the wells an act of provocation, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised statement that Turkish “frigates, gunboats and its air force will constantly monitor developments in the area.” He later added that Turkey would start its own seismic exploration program in the area, the site of major natural gas deposits claimed largely by Israel.

    Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into an internationally accepted Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north that is recognized only by Turkey. While the Greek Cypriots say the drilling is taking place south of the island, in their exclusive economic zone, Turkish officials do not accept the Greek Cypriots’ claims to the area.

    “We have different attitudes for the region that they have declared as an exclusive economic region,” Mr. Erdogan said. “This is a disputed exclusive economic region, and we have earlier conveyed to them that taking such a step in this disputed region would be incorrect.”

    This is the second time recently that Mr. Erdogan has vowed to send the Turkish Navy into an international dispute. Earlier this month, he said that Turkish naval vessels would escort aid ships headed to Gaza to avoid a repetition of a confrontation last year, when eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed by Israeli commandos.

    Turkey claims that the natural resources around Cyprus belong to both the Turkish and Greek sectors, and that any development projects should be shelved until the dispute over the political status of the island is resolved.

    Prime Minister Erdogan said the Turkish Petroleum Company would soon begin exploring for hydrocarbon reserves off northern Cyprus, in line with a continental shelf agreement between Ankara and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.

    Cyprus is a member of the European Union, which on Monday urged the parties to focus on a comprehensive solution to the island’s political dispute, the Anatolian Agency reported.

    A version of this article appeared in print on September 20, 2011, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Drilling Off Cyprus Will Proceed Despite Warnings From Turkey.

    via Drilling Off Cyprus Will Proceed Despite Warnings From Turkey – NYTimes.com.

  • Turkey Rattles Saber Over Cyprus Oil Drilling

    Turkey Rattles Saber Over Cyprus Oil Drilling

    By MARC CHAMPION

    WO AH063A TURKC D 20110919172404ISTANBUL—Turkey said it was ready to send warships to escort research vessels that would explore for oil and gas off the coast of Northern Cyprus, responding to what it said was a provocation by the island’s Greek Cypriot south.

    Monday’s saber-rattling came as Texas-based Noble Energy Inc. began exploratory drilling farther south between Cyprus and Israel late Sunday, despite Turkish warnings to halt the project, the semiofficial Cyprus News Agency reported. Noble was operating under license from the Republic of Cyprus, the island’s internationally recognized government in the Greek Cypriot south.

    The developments raised the stakes in a dispute over drilling rights around the divided island.

    Turkish leaders say the Republic of Cyprus shouldn’t drill for oil and gas on the continental shelf that it delineated with Israel in an agreement last year. Any drilling or maritime agreements, Ankara says, should wait until the island—divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded Cyprus in response to a Greek-backed coup—is reunified, so both the Greek and Turkish populations can benefit.

    Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz on Monday described the Cypriot exploration project as “a political provocation aimed at consolidating the Greek Cypriot administration’s status,” and so short-circuiting reunification talks for the island, Turkey’s state Anadolu news agency reported.

    Mr. Yildiz also reiterated a Turkish warning that it would make its own agreement with the de facto government of Northern Cyprus to delineate the continental shelf north of the island, if Noble Energy were to proceed with its drilling plans. Ankara would then authorize the Turkish Petroleum Corp. to send research vessels to begin exploration in the Turkish and Turkish-Cypriot waters, he said.

    “The research will be carried out together with a [navy] escort,” Anadolu reported Mr. Yildiz as saying.

    The Republic of Cyprus is a European Union member state, but isn’t recognized by Turkey. By contrast, Turkey is the only country to recognize the administration of the government of the island’s ethnic-Turkish North. The two sides are divided by a United Nations-monitored green line.

    Ankara’s threat of military action came on the heels of similar threats Turkey made in recent weeks to send naval vessels to escort future aid convoys that attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Those combative policies risk confrontation with Cyprus and Israel, as well tensions with the EU and Washington, diplomats said, noting that Cyprus is an EU member and Noble Energy is a U.S. company.

    A spokeswoman for the European Union’s foreign-affairs service said Monday in Brussels that the EU urged “Turkey to refrain from any kind of threat or sources or friction or action” that could damage relations in the neighborhood or border settlement talks.

    Officials at the Energy Service of the Republic of Cyprus ministry for Commerce, Industry and Tourism didn’t return phone and email requests to comment. A spokesman for Noble Energy didn’t return calls seeking comment.

    Noble Energy is also involved in developing Israel’s Leviathan field, which contains an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet, or about 453 billion cubic meters, of natural gas. Noble’s partner in that project, Israel’s Delek Drilling LP, has applied to the Greek Cypriot government to activate an option to take a 30% share in the Cypriot exploration license, too, said a senior industry executive familiar with the project.

    “The main reason Turkey is reacting so strongly is that it wants to be the gateway for any new gas to come to EU markets,” the executive said. A major Greek Cypriot find would undermine that goal, he said, as Cyprus would then export gas to the EU via Greece.

    Selcuk Unal, spokesman for Turkey’s foreign ministry, dismissed that claim as “childish,” saying Turkey was already an energy hub. “The question here is why now? Why are the Cypriots hurrying to start drilling now? They could have done it years ago. The reason is that it coincides with a crucial moment in reunification negotiations, which is why we find that this is all a provocation,” he said.

    Turkey has sought to force the pace in Cyprus’s reunification talks lately, threatening to freeze relations with the EU if reunification hasn’t been agreed upon by the time Cyprus takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2012. Mr. Yildiz repeated that warning on Monday.

    Write to Marc Champion at marc.champion@wsj.com

    Corrections & Amplifications

    An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Noble Energy Inc. as Noble Engineering Inc.

    via Turkey Rattles Saber Over Cyprus Oil Drilling – WSJ.com.

  • N Cyprus prepares its own drilling plan

    N Cyprus prepares its own drilling plan

    Northern CyprusTurkey and northern Cyprus are planning to sign an agreement to draw an exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea and invite foreign companies for gas and oil exploration, in retaliation to Greek Cyprus’ scheduled drillings set for October.

    “Turkish Cypriots will sign their own agreements and start their own offshore exploration activities, if the Greek Cypriot side fails to suspend its activities to explore and extract oil and natural gas off the southern shores of Cyprus,” Kudret Özersay, Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu’s special representative, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Friday.

    Before a unification deal with Turkish Cyprus is brokered, Greek Cypriot ambition to benefit from potentially rich gas and oil reserves in the Mediterranean Sea has once again increased regional tension. The announcement that a U.S. firm, Noble Energy, would begin drilling for natural gas off southern Cyprus’ coast on Oct.1 has drawn Ankara’s reaction both against Greek Cyprus and countries whose companies have been involved in the process.

    Turkey urged the United States to convince interested U.S. companies to stay away from these kinds of activities if they do not want to push the region into turmoil. It also said such moves would seriously hurt ongoing reunification talks between the two sides of the divided island.

    “We will act in the context of the principle of reciprocity,” Özersay said. Even if countries are divided, they could get all the benefits of a former partnership, he said, implying that if reunification talks fail and the island becomes divided into two states, the Greek Cypriots’ benefits from the island’s natural resources must be shared.

    “If Greek Cypriots do not suspend the natural gas drilling and receive its benefits in the future, Turkish Cypriots would obtain their share on the island’s natural sources,” he said. A unilateral act of the Greek Cypriot side did not mean that the island’s natural resources belong solely to them.

    Another official from the Turkish Cypriot administration, who wanted to remain anonymous, clarified their future plan for action if the Greek Cypriots insist on drilling for natural gas.

    “We can sign an agreement with Turkey for delimitation of the exclusive economic zone, so the ships of TPAO (Turkish Petroleum Company) can explore off the southern and western part of the island,” the official said.

    “In the past, foreign companies asked us about gas and oil exploration. We can also invite them and provide a license for them to perform explorations around the island,” he added.

    Since the early 2000s, Greek Cyprus has signed a number of agreements with littoral countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to draw economic zones, with each of them being able to benefit from gas and oil reserves. Turkey made counter-attacks against the move, urging all Eastern Mediterranean countries suspend these deals with Greek Cyprus.

    Hürriyet Daily News