Turkey Disputes Cyprus Gas Offers
Turkey could challenge any move by Cyprus to accelerate natural gas exploration as a way of attracting desperately needed investment to save its economy, agencies report.
Reuters quoted senior Turkish officials making these comments. "This resource [offshore gas in the Mediterranean] belongs to two communities and the future of this resource can't be subject to the will of southern Cyprus alone. [We] may act against such initiatives if necessary," one official said.
The European Union has given the island until Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to secure a bailout by the European Central Bank and International Monetary Union.
Cypriot Finance Minister Michael Sarris, who went to Moscow to ask for Russian help, has identified the divided island's offshore gas riches as one area in which Russia could invest. Reports Friday said Russian negotiators had refused Nicosia's plea for a new multi-billion euro loan.
Commenting on the gas proposal, the Turkish source said: "The exclusive use of this resource... by Southern Cyprus is out of question ... and unacceptable."
In 2011, Cypriot authorities gave energy major Noble of Texas permission to commence exploration activities in the Aphrodite field. This sparked retaliatory action, including despatch of naval vessels, by Turkey.
CNN quotes Laszlo Varro of the International Energy Agency, who estimates that Cyprus' natural gas could be injecting $3 billion a year into the economy and generating perhaps $1 billion in tax revenue by 2020.
Around 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas worth $80 billion at current prices have been discovered in the Aphrodite gas field in Cypriot waters, although the figures still have to be audited.
That would cover around 40% of annual gas consumption in the EU.
Cyprus hopes to start exporting in 2018, but energy analysts say extracting the gas will prove costly and slow.
Cyprus has been divided between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish north since a Turkish invasion in 1974.