In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Sabah published on Friday, Turkey’s Minister of Energy, Alparslan Bayraktar, stated that Ankara aims to conduct offshore surveys for hydrocarbons in Libyan maritime zones.
Calling Libya one of the most important countries regarding energy, Bayraktar said that Turkey is “interested in oil and natural gas projects both onshore and offshore in Libya.” He added that there are areas where Tripoli and Ankara are close to reaching an agreement and that developments may occur.
Bayraktar also noted that the Black Sea is more important for Turkey regarding hydrocarbon exploration compared to the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
“The prospect of the Mediterranean seems to be higher than that of the Aegean. The prospect of the Black Sea appears to be higher. Therefore, we are prioritizing, and currently, this prioritization is as follows: Sakarya province, Black Sea, Mediterranean.”
Earlier on Friday, Greek sources in the defense ministry warned Turkey that Greece will not tolerate any `illegal’ Turkish activities within the exclusive economic zone established by the 2020 deal between Athens and Cairo.
Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) signed a maritime memorandum in 2019, delimiting their “exclusive economic zones.” Greece has rejected the legality of this agreement, emphasizing that it does not consider its own maritime zones.
Subsequently, Athens signed an agreement with Cairo that partially delimits their exclusive economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean.
