Tag Archives: natural gas

Turkey has extended the seismic survey work of its Oruc Reis ship in a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean until Nov. 4 – a move that Greece condemned on Sunday as “illegal”. Turkey said Greece’s accusation was “baseless” as tensions between the NATO members flared again in a dispute …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah and its ally Amal criticised on Wednesday the delegation set to negotiate with Israel over their disputed sea border, calling for changing the team hours before the first meeting. Formally still at war after decades of conflict, Lebanon and Israel agreed to launch talks via U.S. mediation over …

The United States on Tuesday slammed Turkey’s renewed push to send a vessel to carry out seismic surveys in the eastern Mediterranean, accusing Ankara of unilaterally stoking tensions and “deliberately” complicating the resumption of talks with Greece. “The United States deplores Turkey’s October 11 announcement of renewed Turkish survey activity …

Lebanon and Israel, formally still at war after decades of conflict, launch talks on Wednesday to address a long-running dispute over their maritime border running through potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters. The U.S.-mediated talks follow three years of intense diplomacy by Washington and were announced less than a month after the …

Tourism in Uzbekistan has always drawn people from far and wide. For anyone who knows about the country, this is easy to understand – bright colours, intricate patterns, rich flavours, and friendly people await every visitor. Traces remain of great empires that have long since been blown away by the …

Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a framework for U.S.-mediated talks aimed at ending a long-running dispute along the border between the two nations that have fought several conflicts. Still in a formal state of war, Lebanon and Israel have contested their land and maritime borders for decades, namely over …

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday pledged to improve gasoline output and distribution in the fuel-starved nation, as the second of three Iranian tankers carrying fuel entered the South American country’s waters. The once-prosperous OPEC nation is struggling under a collapsing oil industry and U.S. sanctions that have crippled imports …

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has condemned derogatory remarks made by the Turkish foreign minister, days after a Turkish attempt to open a dialogue with Egypt was rejected by Cairo. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Hafez, denounced the foreign minister’s comments made in a conversation with a …

Turkey will send a second drill ship to operate in the Black Sea, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Sunday, weeks after Ankara announced its largest ever natural gas discovery in the area. “Our drill ship Kanuni, whose preparation work is continuing, will start drilling in the Black Sea,” he …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Cyprus on Tuesday that Moscow was ready to help mediate in any talks with Turkey over energy exploration in the east Mediterranean Sea. A decades-old rift between Turkey and Cyprus, which is backed by Greece, has come to a head this year in disputes …

President Tayyip Erdogan told European Council President Charles Michel on Sunday the EU’s stance towards the East Mediterranean would be a test of its sincerity, calling on it to take an impartial stance in Turkey’s row with Greece. NATO allies Turkey and Greece have been locked in a dispute over …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued new threats to Greece on Saturday as Turkish forces prepared to conduct military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean amid tension over oil and gas rights. The temperature has soared in the dispute between the two countries since Turkey deployed a research vessel and an …

Greece and Turkey have agreed to talks to avoid accidental clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, part of efforts to defuse the worsening dispute over energy resources in the region. Germany is also leading a diplomatic push for broader dialogue and German Chancellor Angela …

Russia has stepped up its logistic support for private military contractor Wagner Group in Libya with some 338 military cargo flights from Syria in the nine months to July 31 to aid Wagner fighters backing eastern-based Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters on Wednesday. …

The EU on Friday urged Turkey to halt its drilling activities in contested waters in the Mediterranean and ordered EU officials to speed up work aimed at blacklisting some Turkish officials linked to the energy exploration. Tensions are mounting to breaking point between Turkey and Greece over Turkey’s drilling work …

Turkey said it will hold a military exercise off northwest Cyprus for the next two weeks, amid growing tension with Greece over disputed claims to exploration rights in the east Mediterranean. The long-running dispute between Turkey and Greece, both NATO members, flared up after the two countries agreed rival accords …

NATO is looking at ways to avoid accidental clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean while supporting German diplomatic efforts to defuse the worsening dispute over energy resources there, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters the Western alliance was considering so-called deconfliction measures to prevent naval …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump talked on the phone on Wednesday to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including the Mediterranean, Erdogan’s office said. Tensions between Turkey and Greece have escalated since Ankara sent its Oruc Reis survey vessel to disputed eastern Mediterranean waters this month, a …

Greece plans to extend the western limit of its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 miles, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday. The conservative premier said a bill on the matter would be submitted to parliament very soon. “Greece will extend its western territorial waters to 12 …

Turkey announced its biggest ever natural gas discovery on Friday, a 320 billion cubic metre (11.3 trillion cubic feet) Black Sea field which President Tayyip Erdogan said was part of even bigger reserves and could come onstream as soon as 2023. If the gas can be commercially extracted, the discovery …

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stressed the need for an immediate end to the blockade of oil facilities in Libya at a meeting in Tripoli on Monday. NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla met Maas and they discussed the economic and environmental damage of the blockade, …

President Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece on Friday that Turkey will retaliate against any attack on its survey vessel Oruc Reis in the eastern Mediterranean in an escalating row between the NATO allies over gas and oil exploration in the region. Turkey and Greece are vehemently at odds over overlapping claims …

Egypt said on Saturday that part of a seismic survey planned by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean potentially encroached on waters where Cairo claims exclusive rights. An advisory issued last month by Turkey for the survey overlaps with Egypt’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), constituting “a violation and an attack on …

Turkey and Russia agreed on Wednesday to keep pushing for a ceasefire in Libya, but Ankara said the leader of the eastern forces was not legitimate and his forces must withdraw from key positions for any credible deal to emerge. The two countries are the main power brokers in Libya’s …

Greece accused Turkey on Tuesday of attempting to encroach on its continental shelf in a serious escalation of tensions between the two NATO allies at odds over a range of issues. Turkey and Greece are at loggerheads over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources, brought into sharper focus by attempts of …

Qatar’s state minister for defense affairs met on Monday with the Turkish defense minister and Libya’s minister of interior to discuss the latest developments in Libya, Qatar’s ministry of defense said on Twitter. Egyptian lawmakers approved on Monday the deployment of armed forces in combat missions abroad giving President Sisi …

Egypt’s parliament is to vote Monday to authorize the president to deploy troops to neighboring Libya if Turkey-backed forces there, allied with the UN-supported government in Tripoli, move to retake the strategic coastal city of Sirte. An Egyptian intervention would further destabilize oil-rich Libya, and put two US allies — …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday warned investors in two Russian natural gas pipeline projects that they could face sanctions as the Trump administration seeks to curb the Kremlin’s economic leverage over Europe and Turkey. Pompeo told a news conference that European investors in the Nord Stream 2 …

by James M. Dorsey | Jul 14, 2020 An initial version of this story was first published in Inside Arabia A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. A Palestinian move to secure Palestine’s energy needs by tying them to high-stakes Turkish regional gambits constitutes an effort to reduce Palestinian dependence on …

Libya’s eastern-based parliament has called for Egypt to directly intervene in the country’s civil war to counter Turkish support for the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in the capital Tripoli. In a statement late on Monday, the House of Representatives based in the eastern port of Tobruk …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to work more closely in Libya to ensure lasting stability in the country, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday. Turkey supports the internationally recognised Government of National Accord in Libya, which is fighting against the eastern-based …

Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) said on Saturday it would maintain a blockade on oil production and exports that the National Oil Corp (NOC) says has cost the country $6.5 billion in lost revenue. Friday’s loading of a first tanker since January with oil from storage had led NOC …

A major Egyptian army exercise near the border with Libya is being viewed by military and strategic experts as a message of deterrence to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his backing for the Government of National Accord led by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj and supported by militia groups. The …

A senior Turkish military official said on Wednesday it was “completely untrue” that the Turkish navy had harassed a French warship, denying an assertion by a French official. Earlier on Wednesday, the French defence ministry official accused the Turkish navy of harassing a French warship on a NATO mission. He …

Turkey and Libya’s internationally recognised government are discussing possible Turkish use of two military bases in the North African country, a Turkish source said on Monday, teeing up a lasting Turkish presence in the south Mediterranean. No final decisions have been made over possible Turkish military use of the Misrata …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he discussed the conflict in Libya with U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call on Monday and that the two leaders agreed on “some issues” related to developments there. Turkey supports the internationally recognised government of Fayez al Serraj, whose forces have in recent …

The United States is looking to use one of its Security Force Assistance Brigades in Tunisia, its military said on Friday, amid concern over Russian activity in Libya. Libya’s civil war has drawn in regional and global powers, prompting what the United Nations has called a huge influx of weapons …

Lebanon’s search for offshore oil and gas will begin on Thursday, President Michel Aoun said, as the country grapples with an unprecedented financial crisis. The results from the first exploratory well are expected in the next two months, the chairman of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA) said earlier on Wednesday. …

Egypt is considering exporting gas to Lebanon using an offshore pipeline, Egyptian Petrol Minister Tarek al-Molla told Al-Arabiya in an interview published Monday. “Unfortunately, the pipeline for importing Egyptian gas to Lebanon passes through Syria. The current circumstances in Syria mean we cannot deliver gas,” Molla said on the sidelines …

Turkey’s bill allowing troop deployment in Libya marks a dangerous escalation in the North African country’s civil war and severely threatens stability in the region, a joint statement by Greece, Israel and Cyprus said late on Thursday. “This decision constitutes a gross violation of the UNSC resolution…imposing an arms embargo …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to cut short his trip to Greece following the assassination of Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Quds Force, said an official in Netanyahu’s office. Israel Army Radio reported that the country’s military had gone on heightened alert, fearing retaliation by Iran or its …

The Indian government is preparing to reform domestic fuel marketing in India, opening up this lucrative sector to foreign oil companies, especially those in the Gulf. To set this process in motion, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has prepared a cabinet note which will end rules that essentially …

Saudi Arabia has looked into buying Israeli natural gas, according to a former member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, the latest sign of warming ties between two formally hostile nations. The countries have discussed building a pipeline that would connect Saudi Arabia to Eilat, Ayoob Kara, citing conversations with …

Turkish Cypriots have proposed to the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government that they cooperate in the search for gas off the divided island, Turkey said on Saturday, after an escalation of tension in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey and the Cyprus government have overlapping claims in the waters off Cyprus, linked …