Gas, Oil Exploration Complicates Turkey, Cyprus Talks

September 20, 2011

A helicopter ferrying workers to an offshore oil and gas rig belonging to Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. takes off from Cyprus' Limassol port, September 19, 2011.

Cyprus appears to be headed for a showdown with Turkey over Nicosia's oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean. The drilling may harm the ongoing reunification talks

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Relations between Turkey and Cyprus have soured increasingly after the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government started drilling off the divided island, Monday.

The director of Cyprus's energy service, Solon Kassinis, says the process could take several months to complete.

"It's going to continue, I envisage, between two to three months - based on the difficulties we might find. But, our program is to last for 73 days," said Kassinis.

The move to push ahead with drilling has irked breakaway Turkish Cypriots in the northern sector of this divided island. They insist that any natural reserves discovered belong to both sides.

In 2008, the Cyprus government signed a production-sharing contract with American-based Noble Energy for exploration activities in an economic zone southeast of the island. The area borders Israeli waters.

In response to the drilling, Ankara has issued a barrage of strong threats against the Cyprus government, including suggestions that military aircraft, frigates and torpedo boats will move toward the drilling zone.