Eastern Mediterranean ///
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that state energy company Tpao has found 135 billion cubic meters of gas at the Amasra-1 offshore well, bringing the total amount of deposits discovered in the Black Sea over the past year to 540 billion cubic meters.
Turkey has discovered further deposits of natural gas in the Black Sea, according to people familiar with the matter, and is likely to make an announcement soon.
The project would be the first of its kind in the Mediterranean, Energean CEO Matthaios Rigas said at a conference Wednesday.
Turkey’s state-owned oil and gas company is considering partnerships and plans to raise funding this year to carry out work on the biggest natural gas discovery in the Black Sea, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The announcement comes just weeks after the European Union pledged to expand the number of Turkish officials sanctioned over the country’s energy exploration in the disputed waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
This deal, plus more to be announced, target drilling 23 wells in nine regions in the Mediterranean and three regions in the Red Sea, with a minimum total investment seen at $1.4 billion.
The LNG vessel Tristar Ruby, which loaded at the Cove Point plant in Maryland, is headed for Croatia’s terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk, according to ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. The ship is scheduled to arrive on Jan. 1, the expected start date of the terminal.
From Azerbaijan to Syria to Libya, Erdogan’s drive to rebuild Turkey’s influence as a regional power has forced Russia to roll back its ambitions. Even as Erdogan increasingly positions himself as a check on the Kremlin’s geopolitical reach, Putin has nothing but warm words for his Black Sea neighbor in public.
In February, the EU imposed asset freezes and travel bans on two employees of Turkish Petroleum Corp. in response to Turkey’s natural-gas gas hunt off Cyprus. A Cypriot proposal to include Turkish entities and add individuals to that blacklist has been held up since June.
The gesture is part of a broader series of moves meant to improve the atmospherics before EU leaders sit down on Dec. 10 to discuss a response to Turkish maritime activities in waters also claimed by bloc members Cyprus and Greece.
European leaders in October called on Ankara to abstain from unilateral hydrocarbon exploration in disputed waters, saying it’s in breach of international law. Turkey nonetheless resumed the surveys, making any negotiation with Greece on delimitation of sea borders even more problematic.
Turkish Cypriots and Cyprus have been at loggerheads over offshore gas reserves in disputed waters. Cyprus has been pushing other EU states to expand a blacklist against Turkey over its natural-gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean. Other governments including Germany were wary of provoking Turkey.
Turkey and Libya officially approved a contentious maritime deal that may fuel an energy showdown in the gas-rich waters of the eastern Mediterranean, where both countries are at odds with Greece.
The European Union is poised to freeze most high-level contacts with Turkey and cut the flow of funds to the country, while holding back for now on sanctions that could target Turkish companies involved in offshore drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.
A ghost town in Cyprus’s Turkish-controlled north has become the latest pawn in the conflict surrounding Turkey’s drilling for natural gas off the island’s shore.
Turkey is considering deploying a Russian missile-defense system along the country’s southern coast, near where its warships are accompanying vessels exploring for energy, according to four people with knowledge of the deliberations.
Israel is willing to enter U.S.-mediated talks with Lebanon on setting a maritime border, the Energy Ministry said today.
An investor group is planning a major shakeup of the Eastern Mediterranean natural gas industry in a bid to unlock sales stymied by the political and industrial complexities of the region.
Energean Oil and Gas plc, the oil and gas producer focused on the Mediterranean, is pleased to announce that the Karish North exploration well has made a significant gas discovery.
Energean Oil and Gas plc, the oil and gas producer focused on the Mediterranean, is pleased to announce successful completion of drilling operations of the extended reach well, EA-H3.