The United States and Qatar have assured Ankara that Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum will remain out of Turkey’s continental shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoğlu said on Monday, after the companies were given an energy exploration license in disputed waters.
The companies “cannot enter our continental shelf without our permission,” Voice of America Turkish cited Çavusoğlu as telling lawmakers during his ministry’s budget talks in parliament. “The United States and Qatar – have guaranteed that they will not enter our continental shelf.’’
Turkey has long been at loggerheads with Greece and Cyprus over maritime boundary disputes.
Turkey and Greece were on the verge of military confrontation last August, after Turkey launched its seismic survey ship Oruç Reis accompanied by a small naval fleet to explore for undersea oil and gas in Eastern Mediterranean waters which Greece claims as part of its continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but which Turkey disputes.
The companies received the hydrocarbon exploration license for Section 5 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which lies south, southwest of the island ethnically divided island, and which Turkey claims overlaps with its own continental shelf.
Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum will remain south of the continental shelf Turkey claims, Çavuşoğlu said.
Ahval