Page 13 - Euroil Week 07 2020

EurOil POLICY EurOil
Turkey has steadily intensified its efforts over the past year to claim recently discovered deposits of natural gas in the Eastern Mediter- ranean. Maritime laws include some ambiguous elements regarding borders and “exclusive eco- nomic zones” (EEZs) extending from the shore- line of maritime states, and Ankara has been attempting to use these ambiguities to forcefully assert its claim to almost half the Mediterranean.
Most recently, Turkey signed an agreement with one of the warring administrations in Libya that unilaterally divided much of the Mediterra- nean between the two countries. Ankara’s deal with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) drew a diagonal line from Libya’s continental shelf and waters to Turkey’s, with the latter claiming the waters east of the line right up to the coast of Cyprus and beyond.
The delimitation of “exclusive territorial waters” ignored and displaced recognised claims by Cyprus and Greece. Turkey claimed this was legal because, in contrast to the EU and the UN, it did not recognise islands (such as the Greek islands and Cyprus) as being entitled to territo- rial waters beyond their immediate coastline. Following its distinctive interpretation of mari- time laws, Turkey was one of only four countries that failed to sign the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982. Ankara can there- fore now claim that it shares a maritime border with Libya and Egypt and completely ignore Greece’s maritime border with Cyprus.
In return for the maritime borders deal with the Libyan GNA and the right to drill in Libyan waters, Turkey has dispatched military aid to Tripoli. e Turkish support apparently included
deployment of Syrian mercenary proxy forces that Turkey had also used in its incursions into northern Syria. e GNA in Tripoli is ghting a Tobruk-based rival government supported by Egypt and several other countries.
In Libya, Turkey is not only isolated but also confronting a bloc that consists of Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and France, and is a party to the military stando between the Tripoli govern- ment and the rebel forces. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Tur- key of violating the Berlin peace conference with its military aid to the GNA, since signatories had agreed to stay out of the Libyan civil war.
Over the past few months there have been several instances of confrontations or incursions involving the Turkish naval and air forces in the East Mediterranean, and with Greece, Israel, Cyprus and Egypt all ranged up in opposition to Turkey; France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also lined up in the opposition camp, so Turkey is nding itself without any friends in its backyard.
Turkey may well have some legitimate rights about its view that the East Mediterranean gas project is a threat to its own Turkstream gas pipe- line, developed with Russia, and a ects Turkey’s proclaimed wish to be the energy hub of the area and the transit point of oil and gas headed for Europe.
However, Turkey’s recent actions and state- ments suggest that it is not for changing course and further confrontations and di culties may well lie ahead. Turkey may well have to learn to recognise other nations’ rights and to identify possible areas of mutual co-operation. ™
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Neptune launches deep Dutch well
NETHERLANDS
The well’s launch will help push Neptune’s Dutch output to 25,000 boepd.
UK-BASED Neptune Energy has flowed gas from a new well targeting the deepest produc- ing gas eld in the Dutch North Sea, it said on February 19.
e high-pressure, high-temperature L5A- D4 well was drilled to a depth of 5.5km, at the L5A-D eld some 100km north of Den Helder. It is tied back to the L5A-D platform, which Nep- tune operates with a 60% stake. Its partner is the Netherlands’ state-owned EBN with 40%.
Neptune, which also works in Norwegian and UK waters, is the largest oil and gas producer in the Dutch North Sea and is involved in exploring and developing 42 licences. It produced 18,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the area in the third quarter of 2019.
Work on L5A-D4 began in April and the well had been expected to start owing before the end of last year. In October Neptune brought on stream another well, E17a-A6, almost 160km from Den Helder. Following its start-up,
Neptune said in November its Dutch output had risen to 24,000 boepd and would exceed 25,000 boepd a er L5A-D4’s launch.
e drilling of L5A-D4 demonstrates “the company’s commitment to boosting o shore gas production in the Netherlands,” Neptune said.
“We continued to seek opportunities to grow our business in the Netherlands and enhance our o shore gas production,” its managing director Lex de Groot said. “Dutch o shore natural gas remains hugely important for heating Dutch homes.”
Dutch gas production is set to fall dramat- ically over the coming years, following the government’s decision in September to bring forward the shutdown of the giant onshore Gro- ningen eld by eight years to mid-2022.
e Netherlands swung to becoming a net importer of gas last year as a result of Groningen scaling back production, having relied mostly on LNG and Russian piped gas. ™
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