(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, APRIL 25 - Turkey's state-run oil company
is set to start drilling for oil and gas in the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC, recognized only by Ankara) under an
agreement signed last year in September as Anatolia news agency
reports.
The Turkish Petroleum Corporation, or TPAO, will start
drilling on Thursday at a field neat to Gazimagusa (Famagusta)
with a ceremony which will be participated by Turkish Energy and
Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz as well as Turkish
Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu. TPAO has said it planned to drill
as deep as 3,000 meters at the well which has been named
Turkyurdu-1. On September 21, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Eroglu signed in New York an agreement on the
delineation of the continental shelf between two countries in
the East Mediterranean. Under the agreement, TPAO will be able
to make three dimensional seismic research and drilling in TRNC
land and sea more actively. The agreement follows a Republic of
Cyprus move to start offshore drilling for natural gas and oil
in the southeast of the Eastern Mediterranean island. (ANSAmed).
