Turkey has resumed offshore gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea after a hiatus of two years. The Abdullhamid Han drillship set sail on Tuesday for waters that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a ceremony are “within our sovereign territory.”
Though the area that Turkey will drill for gas in has not been specified, it is speculated that it will be in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone. Turkey does not recognize Cyprus as a sovereign state that is entitled to its own zone. Turkey argues that some of the waters around the island are part of Turkey’s continental shelf.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Turkey after it dispatched a drilling ship to waters near Cyprus in July 2019. Turkey then halted offshore gas explorations in December 2020, shortly after the EU threatened further economic sanctions. Cyprus is a member of the EU. The island nation also includes the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Turkey has almost no domestic energy sources and relies on imports from countries such as Iran and Russia. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to a shortage of oil and gas in Europe and other regions of the world.