- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Ashgabat, Baku Raise Caspian Oil Tensions

Subscribe
The Turkmenistan foreign ministry on Tuesday accused an Azeri border patrol of committing “unlawful actions” against a Turkmen vessel carrying out research in an area of a disputed oil field located on the Azeri-Turkmen maritime border.

The Turkmenistan foreign ministry on Tuesday accused an Azeri border patrol of committing “unlawful actions” against a Turkmen vessel carrying out research in an area of a disputed oil field located on the Azeri-Turkmen maritime border.

The huge field, known as Serdar in Turkmenistan and Kapaz in Azerbaijan, contains an estimated 80 million tons of oil and 32 billion cubic meters of gas.

The Turkmen foreign ministry sent a diplomatic protest letter to Azerbaijan about the “unlawful actions” of the Azeri border patrol, threatening retaliatory measures, on June 16.

The Turkmenistan ambassador to Azerbaijan, Toyly Komekov, was on Monday summoned to the Azeri Foreign Ministry. Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister, Halaf Halafov, reminded the ambassador that the 2008 bilateral presidential accords committed both Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to refraining from any exploration or extraction activities at the intersection of the Azeri and Turkmen sectors of the sea, until differences regarding the sea floor were resolved.

The rich field was discovered in 1959 by Azerbaijani geologists and geophysicists. In 1983 the area was prepared for deep exploratory drilling by Azerbaijani oil workers, which took place in 1986.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the newly independent states around the Caspian Sea failed to agree on their maritime boundaries.

Baku has insisted on dividing the sea along a median line from the shore, giving it the lion’s share of oil reserves, while Turkmenistan wants the division to take into account where the oilfields lie relative to the shore.

 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала