Cyprus Vows to Push Ahead with Gas Plans

Cyprus has vowed continue to development of offshore natural gas, in a retort to Turkish warnings to international partners about such projects.

Last week the Mediterranean island-state announced talks with Italian, South Korean, French and Russian interests, for development of gas fields off its southern coasts. Last year Cyprus reported its first gas find of a mean 7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas south of Cyprus in a sea area bordering Israel. It is one of the largest gas finds of the past decade.

Over the weekend the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a sharp note about the plans. "Companies which will co-operate with the Greek Cypriot administration will be excluded from new energy projects in Turkey in the future," it said.

French agency AFP said the Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, had called on businesses to use "common sense" and not attempt to develop unilaterally resources which lie in contested waters.

Cyprus has been divided between the Turkish-dominated north and the Greek south since 1974. The Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia has international recognition.

See also: Risky Business: the Tensions and Triumphs of Cyprus' Gas