Turkey has not yet found Mediterranean gas

Turkey has not discovered natural gas in the Mediterranean but, if and when it does, news of the discovery will be announced by the Turkish government, not anyone else, the country’s energy minister said on Thursday.
“If, Allah willing, we should one day find natural gas or oil, I will be the first to announce it,” Berat Albayrak reportedly told an energy conference in Turkey.
“The news will be announced by us, not through gossip,” he added.
Albayrak was alluding to reports in the Greek Cypriot press earlier this week claiming the discovery of natural gas field located between southern Turkey and the northern coast of Cyprus.
According to daily Phileleftheros, the data was obtained by the Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa seismic survey vessel. The same report said a newly-acquired drilling vessel of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), the Deep Sea Metro II, would arrive in the area in the first months of 2018.
For his part, Albayrak reiterated that Turkey would be drilling for gas in the Mediterranean in 2018.
“This is a nuisance to some. It bothers them so much that even before we have conducted [exploratory] drilling, some are writing that the Turks have found natural gas.
“We know what is behind these politically-guided reports generated by the media,” he added.
According to a convenience translation of his remarks, Albrayrak said: “No one should consider the Mediterranean, the territorial waters, as their own wealth. Turkey shall carry out these explorations, seismic activities and drillings, either according to international law or through licensing from the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.