THREATS FROM TURKEY CONTINUE ON PLANS ON CYPRUS OIL EXPLORATION

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THREATS FROM TURKEY CONTINUE ON
PLANS ON CYPRUS OIL EXPLORATION

2 June Gibrahayer - Nicosia - Turkey has stated that Cyprus government's
"intransigence on moving ahead with plans for exploring the Cypriot coast for oil and natural gas is a provocative attitude which also harms ongoing reunification talks between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders."
Earlier this week, US ambassador in Cyprus, said that an American company is expected to soon start exploring the Cyprus coast for oil and natural gas. The announcement by US Ambassador Frank Urbancic came on Tuesday while speaking at the Cyprus International Fair opening.
Urbancic revealed that an American company planned to start exploring the island's southwest coast in the near future, without providing the name of the company.
Turkish Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the issue, saying they were still examining the news reports. US Embassy officials, meanwhile, also noted that they didn't have the name of the company mentioned by Urbancic.
Cyprus government's delineation of the sea boundaries between the island's coastal neighbours and the limits of its continental shelf has been infuriating Ankara, which says that the Cyprus government's actions in the east Mediterranean are “provocative” because, they will harm the equal rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriots.
Ankara expects third parties (meaning US, Libyan Syrian, Egyptian) to abandon their support for the initiates of the Cyprus government.
The so-called TRNC FM Hüseyin Özgürgün, responded harshly to news reports based on the remarks by US Ambassador to Cyprus Urbancic, underlining that "no country or institution has the right to conclude agreements on behalf of the whole of Cyprus with the Greek Cypriot administration, which represents only the Greek Cypriot people."
The exploration is expected to start soon.

LIBYA SEEKS TO INVEST IN EXPLORATION OFF CYPRUS

Eric Watkins - OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor - LOS ANGELES - Libya's National Oil Corp. Chairman Shukri Ghanem, following talks with Cypriot Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides, said the company is considering investing in oil and natural gas exploration off southern Cyprus.
Libya is "very much interested in looking at different possibilities of investment" in a search for oil and gas deposits inside the island's exclusive economic zone, Ghanem said, adding that Libya might also supply Cyprus with gas and invest in its energy sector.
According to Paschalides, Libya is interested in participating in a planned energy infrastructure project in Cyprus that would involve construction of a facility housing crude oil facilities as well as an LNG re-gasification terminal.
Paschalides, who described Libya as having "considerable capabilities" in oil drilling, confirmed that the North African country also is interested in the next round of licensing for oil and gas exploration off the southern coast of Cyprus.
Cyprus launched an initial licensing round in 2007 for 11 blocks covering 51,000 sq km of seabed, and government officials recently said a second licensing round will be launched at a time yet to be announced.
The island nation has long been in talks—all so far unsuccessful—with several suppliers of gas in North Africa, especially Egypt, with the aim of securing supplies to fire the country's power generators, which currently use heavy oil.
In February, Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority Vice-Chairman Stelios Petridis underscored his country's urgent need to secure supplies of LNG, saying that government would pursue direct negotiations with Russia, Algeria, and Egypt, in a bid to save time and find a company to supply the island "as soon as possible."

RULING PARTY SWEEPS VICTORY IN FLAWED YEREVAN ELECTIONS

Asbarez.com - President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party of Armenia has swept to a landslide victory in municipal elections in Yerevan, which the ARF and other opposition groups have denounced as flawed. The ARF Supreme Council of Armenia issued an announcement Monday calling the elections "deeply flawed" and said it would not recognise the results.
The Central Election Commission announced early on June 1 that with all of the ballots counted, the Republican's won 47.4 percent of the vote, enough to reinstall its top candidate, Gagik Beglarian, as Yerevan's mayor. The Prosperous Armenia Party, one of the Republican Party's two junior partners in the ruling coalition, came in a distant second with 22.7 percent.

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