Turkey begins new drilling operations in the Cyprus area

Turkish Fatih drilling vessel has started new operations in the Cyprus area. This was stated by Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, NefteRynok reports.

“The Fatih drilling vessel completed exploration and drilling offshore Turkey and embarked on a new mission south of the Karpas Peninsula in Cyprus”, he said.

Oktay also said that EU sanctions will not affect Turkey’s plans for exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Recall that in the spring of 2019, two Turkish drilling ships began exploratory drilling in the territorial waters of Cyprus. The EU has prepared sanctions against Turkey for drilling offshore Cyprus. Sanctions will include a ban on travel to the EU for individuals and a freeze on banking assets for individuals and legal entities.

Earlier it was reported that Turkey is reducing gas imports from Russia in favor of LNG supplies from America. The share of LNG in Turkish gas imports for the first time increased from 24% to 30.6%. In the first half of 2019, Turkey purchased 7.14 billion cubic meters of LNG.