Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

The turks with the invasion occupied 37% of the most productive land and a lot of the coast But what if we find oil in south and east sea of Cyprus but there is no oil in the sea between Cyprus and Turkey? The oil will be all just for us! How do you think that can affect the Cyprus problem? And another thing: What if there was a solution and then we found oil. Turkey would want that oil and who knows maybe they would start some trouble again to find some excuse to invade us again.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon and Cyprus signed an agreement Wednesday for the delineation of an undersea border to facilitate future oil and gas exploration between the two east Mediterranean countries.

Capping a year of negotiations, the agreement was signed by Lebanon's Minister of Public Works and Transport Mohammed al-Safadi, and Cyprus' Foreign Minister George Lillikas who came to Beirut earlier in the day for the occasion, the official National New Agency said.

Both the island-state of Cyprus and Lebanon are non-oil producers and net importers of hydrocarbon fuels. But the 120-mile wide seabed separating them is believed to hold significant crude oil and natural gas deposits.

The exclusive zone agreement is designed to mark the underwater areas where each country can carry out exploration and exploitation work once oil or gas is discovered.

The Norwegian energy consulting firm PGS recently began a 3-D seismic survey to determine the volume of exploitable hydrocarbon reserves off the Lebanese coast.

Lebanon became the second country to sign an exclusive economic zone agreement with Cyprus. A similar agreement was signed between Cyprus and Egypt last year

[cypezokyli]

if we find oil ? ...

one side , would mean that our negotiating power increases (assuming that there is a lot of it)

on the other side, most who had significant oil reserves have not been that succesful. either due to price flactuations, or their own inability or foreign interests destroying them.... oil can also be very dangerous thing to have....

[shahmaran]

LOL thats as likely as greeks giving up their mission on north cyprus.......

and i dont mean the part about finding oil.... LOL

[Sotos]

Anybody knows how much money Kuwait makes from oil per person? Of course we will never find as much oil as Kuwait but maybe something like 1/5th of it or something.

[DT.]

think there would definitly be an upgrade of the geopolitical importance of the ROC. Large oil companies would have huge interests in the maintainance of stability in cyprus. Tpap has said that the contracts will only go out to friendly nations so expect only French and Russian oil companies being allowed to exploit (a trick he learnt from Bush in Iraq)

Other than that the difference would be felt on the taxation and infrastructure of the ROC. Lower taxation as revenues from oil would replace it, advanced technology, improved roads, dams, buildings, airports...etc. Large scale projects such as complete "re-furbishment" of cities skylines, coasts etc.

[EUropean666]

THIS IS CRAZY but turkey has demanded to have control over the oil production areas south of gavdos island in crete. that is why turkey is so agressive in the aegean with constant violations and stuff. If there was oil, say in corfum, then turkey would called corfu a gray zone...thats the athtitude of an asian-fascist country

[devil]

If we found oil - it would be wasted, sold cheaply, just as the US and the UK wasted their reserves and now have to be net importers (same for gas) and pay the high price. Furthermore, we would borrow international money with the oil as collateral to make everyone's cousin and coumbari rich - and then discover that there was less than half the oil than was originally thought. We could no more manage an oil field than a field of potatoes!

[pantheman]

I think, if cyprus found oil, then the USA would fu#k herup well and truely, just like they are already doing in the middleast, just look at iraq, perfect example.

cyprus needs strong allies before such finds would be worth anything.

[Pyrpolizer]

Hey guys there are 5 countries invlolved in this.Egypt,Israel,Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus. The Americans will most certainly get the Israeli part, the French the Lebanese part, the Russians the Syrian Part, and the Egyptian shaRE IS GOING TO BE SHARED BETWEEN East and Western countries. Cyprus has already given her rights to Egypt, so they will do all the work and we will simply collect money.

NB. Capital letters above because keyboard stuck.

[Sotos]

I agree with European. The Turks are expansionist bastards. Maybe it is good that now the TC minority is separate so they will not create an excuse to invade us to take the oil and then say it was done to protect the the TCs

TURKEY has no right to interfere in the signing of an agreement between Cyprus and Lebanon on exclusive economic zones, President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday.

Papadopoulos was responding to reports on the French news agency, AFP, saying Turkey had protested to Lebanon over Wednesday’s signing of the agreement, which will allow for offshore oil and gas exploration.
AFP was quoting a source in the Lebanese government saying Turkey had lodged a “strong protest” with Beirut.

The source said Turkey considered that Lebanon should have first asked its opinion before signing any agreement with Cyprus, “which also has a Turkish area”.

But Papadopoulos said yesterday that Turkey had no rights to the possible deposits of oil and gas that may exist in the marine territory of Cyprus, and particular in the southernmost parts.

Papadopoulos said Turkey’s reaction was the very reason why the deal had been kept practically secret until the day Foreign Minister George Lillikas went to Beirut to sign, following a year of negotiations. He said that lesson had been learned in the past when Cyprus was negotiating similar agreements with Egypt.

“We do not believe Turkey has any rights in this according to our legal advice, and particularly in relation to the southern side of the island,” said Papadopoulos.

Asked if there was any possibility of signing a deal for an exclusive economic zone with Turkey, Papadopoulos said: “No, of course not.”
Wednesday’s agreement was signed between Lillikas and Lebanon's Minister of Public Works and Transport Mohammed al-Safadi in Beirut. Lebanon is the second country Cyprus has reached a deal with on the exclusive economic zone. An agreement was signed with Egypt in 2005.
The government is in the process of reaching agreements with all of its neighbours on the determination of exclusive economic zones before exploration can begin for possible deposits of oil and natural gas off the coast.

Previous studies have estimated that oil and natural gas reserves in the seas surrounding Cyprus amount to six to eight billion barrels, currently worth around $400 billion.

Papadopoulos said on Tuesday that the Cabinet had approved a legal framework that would secure the country’s interests; it is hoped that it will be approved by the House of Representatives shortly.

He said the area to be exploited would be divided into fields, and tenders will be sought at an international level for the work that needs to be done.