Kıbrıs Araştırma ve İncelemeleri Dergisi, Temmuz 2021
Energy Card Of The Eastern Mediterranean: Cyprus
Doç Dr. Murat KÖYLÜ
Many natural gas fields of different sizes have been discovered in recent years as a result of research that have been conducted by international companies from Eastern Mediterranean`s waters. Among the most important of these are the Egyptian Zohr, the Greek Cypriot Administration (GASC) Aphrodite and Israel's Tamar and Leviathan fields. These reserves are thought to be able to meet the energy demands of neighboring countries as well as source countries. Thus, in March 2010 U.S. In the light of the information obtained as a result of the researches carried out by the Geological Survey in the region, it is estimated that there are 3.4 trillion cubic meters of recyclable natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil in the Eastern Mediterranean (Kurt ve Duman 2020, 285). The energy potential of the Eastern Mediterranean makes the region strategically important for both countries in the region and foreign countries.
At the same time, not only hydrocarbon deposits, but also logistics to countries needed by these discoveries, opens the door to new economic and political cooperation between countries in the region and on the other hand would be deepening existing disputes and conflicts. In this context, Israel and Egypt's policies, which have the largest reserves in the region with the natural gas reserves discovered in Tamar (280 billion cubic meters) in 2009, Leviathan (620 billion cubic meters) in 2010 and Zorh (850 billion cubic meters) in 2015 in the Nile Delta had been fueled conflicts as well as new alliance relations (Kurt ve Duman 2020, 285). It can be said that these two countries focus on issues such as meeting domestic demand, energy security, natural gas transfer and increasing regional cooperation in their policies towards the Eastern Mediterranean.
Israel is historically an energy poor country. Its dependence on foreign energy creates strategic and political weakness and pressure on Israel. Israel imports hydrocarbons from countries such as Angola, Colombia, Mexico, Azerbaijan and Norway, which cannot import from neighboring Arab countries (except Egypt), which have rich natural gas and oil resources and energy resources. This has brought great costs both in terms of price as well as transfer costs. Indeed, Israel met 13.4 percent of its energy production itself in 2012, but imported 49.3 percent of its energy needs, including oil and 35.4 percent coal. However, with the use of gas in the Tamar region in 2013 and the use of gas in the Leviathan region in 2015, Israel was able to meet 60-65 percent of its energy needs. This figure will increase to 70 percent in 2030 (Kurt ve Duman 2020, 286).
The existence of energy resources around the Island of Cyprus had been set in motion by Greece together with the Greek Cypriot Administration. Greece, ignoring the special status of the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Sea due to semi-enclosed seas and islands, regardless of the decisions made by international judicial bodies, especially on the maritime jurisdiction areas of the Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) an important part of the continental shelf and Greece and GASC have prepared maps showing as belonging. Turkey began to take measures to prevent this unfair share since 2004. Ankara notified the United Nations (UN) of the western boundaries of the continental shelf in the Mediterranean in 2004. Also in 2011, it signed a licensing agreement with the TRNC. With this agreement, Turkey has been able to demonstrate the presence of the naval component and drilling ships around Cyprus. With these moves, the use of the TRNC arising from the island's hydrocarbon resources was ensured and attempts to violate these rights were deterred.
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