Turkey bullying over gas find, says Cyprus
Cyprus has accused Turkey of using "bullying behaviour" in some of its harshest criticism yet of its old foe, locked in a decades-old standoff over the division of the island and recent natural gas finds.
Gas production is set to climb in the eastern Mediterranean following the discovery of huge offshore reserves between Israel, Cyprus adn Lebanon that have sparked competing maritime claims from Turkey.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato KozakouMarcoullis told Israeli Army Radio in an interview that Turkey had held numerous and "provocative" military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean over the past few months.
The show of force, she said, was an attempt to threaten Cyprus and Israel and try to discourage foreign companies from cooperating with the two countries in gas exploration and production.
"This is totally unacceptable behaviour on the part of Turkey. It is bullying behaviour," Kozakou-Marcoullis said.
Cyprus's attempts to tap offshore hydrocarbon riches has angered Ankara, which challenges Nicosia's jurisdiction in searching for oil and gas.
The U.S. exploration company Noble Energy, which is working with both Cyprus and Israel, reported an offshore gas prospect of between 5 trillion and 8 trillion cubic feet within the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, a find which could make it self-sufficient in the commodity for decades.
Gas production is also set to soar in Israel and it could become a major exporter from finds that could last for the next 40 years, its energy minister said.
Noble is working with Israel's Delek Energy to develop the "Tamar" field, with reserves estimated at 9.1 trillion cubic feet, and "Leviathan" which is nearly twice as big.
(source: www.financialmirror.com)
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