Turkish Petroleum Corporation to begin land drilling in TRNC

LEFKOSA (A.A) - February 23, 2012 - Turkey's state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) will begin land drilling for oil and natural gas in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in accordance with an agreement signed by Turkey and TRNC. 3,000-metre well will be dug in Sinirustu village of Iskele. The well is named "Turkyurdu-1". Preparations for a ceremony that will mark start of first land drilling in TRNC are about to be completed. The ceremony is expected to be held at the end of this month. On September 21, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Dervis Eroglu of TRNC 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 Greek Cypriot move to start offshore drilling for natural gas and oil in the southeast of the Eastern Mediterranean island.     On September 22, TRNC Council of Ministers gave exploration license to TPAO, Turkish Petroleum Corp., to explore oil and natural gas around Cyprus island.    TRNC President Eroglu met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on September 24, and proposed to suspend oil and natural gas exploration until a comprehensive solution was found to Cyprus question or if Greek Cypriot administration insisted on oil exploration, then a committee shall be set up by the two sides in the island, and it shall decide how to share the richness that could be found after the explorations. However, Greek Cypriot side did not give a positive response. Thus, TPAO, by Piri Reis vessel, began geophysical research and seismic data collecting studies on behalf of TRNC on September 26.     , In 2010, the Greek Cypriot administration and Israel signed an accord demarcating their maritime borders to facilitate a search for mineral deposits in the East Mediterranean. The Greek Cypriot side had signed a deal with U.S.-based Noble Energy to start drilling in an 324,000-hectare economic zone adjacent to the Israeli waters.