The Republic of Cyprus will continue to exercise its sovereign rights which derive from the Law of Sea and Ankara’s provocative stance will not put on hold our plans in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Deputy Government Spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos has said.
Speaking to the press Monday and invited to comment on the incident which occurred in Cyprus’ EEZ when a Turkish military vessel harassed the Norwegian seismic ship Princess, which was conducting seismic survey in the Cypriot EEZ, , Papadopoulos said that the Republic will carry on its plans for the exploitation of its natural gas reserves.
He went on to say that the Turkish vessel was 16,5 nautical miles away from the seismic ship and there was no harassment as the Turkish side has claimed.
Referring to the facts, Deputy Government Spokesman said the seismic ship sailed off from Larnaka port for seismic survey in Cyprus’ EEZ and the Cyprus Republic has given its permission for this.
Last Saturday, he added, the Turkish army vessel communicated with the seismic ship via radio and was calling the TOTAL vessel to abandon its position, because it was in a “Turkish area”, according to the claims.
Papadopoulos added that the seismic ship is carrying on its seismic survey as planned.
The Turkish armed forces issued an announcement according to which the ship, which conducted research east of Cyprus, was ordered by the Turkish frigate “Giresun” to steer away from what Ankara describes as “Turkish waters.”
Total E&P Cyprus Ltd has been granted a license by the Agriculture Minister for seismic exploration for oil and gas in block 10 and in parts of blocks 6, 7 and 11 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
The company will carry out a two-dimensional seismic survey using a specific type of vessels to locate hydrocarbons in the specific blocks, the press release added.
The license is valid for three months, from the 1st of February until the 1st of May, and can be renewed by the Minister of Agriculture.
Preliminary results of a Noble Energy appraisal well for natural gas in Block 12 of Cyprus’ EEZ estimate the hydrocarbon reserve between 3.6tcf and 6tcf with a gross mean resource of 5tcf.
Noble Energy operates Block 12 with a 70 percent working interest. Delek Drilling Limited Partnership and Avner Oil Exploration Limited Partnership each own 15 percent.