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Cyprus launches oil tenders despite row with Turkey
AFP
NICOSIA
Petroleumworld.com 02 15 06Cyprus on Thursday formally invited tenders for oil exploration and drilling rights off the coast of the Mediterranean island despite a growing row with Turkey.
The launch of the licensing round came just two days after Ankara announced its own plans for oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean -- a move which in turn triggered protests from the Cypriot government.
Cyprus is offering licences for an area of about 70,000 square kilometres (28,000 square miles) off the coast of the island, which has been divided since Turkey invaded the northern third in 1974.
Estimated oil deposits are put at around eight to 10 billion barrels.
Cyprus said earlier this week that five international companies have already contacted the government to express interest in exploring the deposits below the seabed.
It has already signed gas and oil exploration and exploitation deals with Cairo and Beirut, and Egypt's Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi was due to attend Thursday's tender launch ceremony.
But Turkey has warned Egypt and Lebanon to delay the deals, saying they infringe the rights of the island's breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet.
Ankara has denied stepping up its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean amid the growing oil row but the Cypriot government has made representations to the United Nations over Turkey's "threats and intimidation".
Cyprus reacted angrily after Turkey announced on Tuesday that its state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation would begin oil exploration in shallow waters in the eastern Mediterranean but gave no timeframe.
"Even if the date for implementing Turkey's decision to conduct exploration in the Mediterranean remains undetermined, the Cyprus government condemns this decision as illegal and is considering its reaction," government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said.
Cyprus, an EU member state, has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia seeking to united the island with Greece.
AFP 15 0940 GMT 02 07
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