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On Tuesday, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources hosted the signing ceremony of the Charter of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, which turns the forum into a Cairo-based regional government organization that includes Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Palestine.
The ceremony was attended by the Ministers of Oil and Energy of those countries, as well as the advisor to the Secretary of Energy of the United States, Victoria Coates, the Director of the Energy Administration representing the Commissioner for Energy of the European Union, Christina Lobelo, and the French ambassador in Cairo.
Karam Saeed, a researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Hurra that “the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean basin that agreed to sign legal agreements to demarcate their maritime borders and define their exclusive economic zones have a plan to maximize the use of the energy reserves that have been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean region ”. .
It is decided that the new organization will act as a platform that brings together gas traffic producers, consumers and countries, to develop a common vision and establish a structured and systematic dialogue on natural gas policies, which will lead to the development of a regional market. sustainable gas, to make the most of the region’s resources, according to a joint statement.
Greater impact force
Experts say that the decision to transform the forum into an organization will increase its ability to influence the energy market, conclude international agreements, control the global gas market more, and hold discussions that will help prevent other countries from trying to expand unilaterally in the region. Mediterranean to acquire wealth here.
Experts believe that this organization will legally strengthen the position of the member states in the international arena, in the face of the conflicts that are now being waged or any other conflict that may arise in the region.
The experts did not neglect the delicate timing of this step, which aims to strengthen Egypt’s role in the gas market to counter the Turkish foray into the Mediterranean region.
‘Deter Turkey’
But Saeed believes that “the agreement to transform the forum into an organization is an explicit expression of the desire of these countries to deter Turkish attempts to destabilize the eastern Mediterranean region and to stop Turkish attempts aimed at exploring economic zones. exclusive to some countries, especially since Turkey refused to enter into legal agreements to demarcate its borders. ” The navy insisted on illegal exploration operations, whether off the coast of Cyprus, Greece or even Egypt. ”
The absence of an agreed maritime border between Turkey and Greece, or Turkey and Cyprus, has become a much bigger problem with the discovery of hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean over the last decade, according to AFP.
Muzaffar Senil, a professor of politics at the University of “Shahir” in Istanbul, pointed out that the demarcation of the borders of the exclusive economic zones in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean was an issue that most of the governments of the region deliberately neglected.
This, in his opinion, is because it is a “difficult issue to resolve and whose political cost is high.”
Turkey is seeking to implement a strategy it calls the “blue nation” of reclaiming energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean.
Senel added that Ankara is using the “blue homeland” as a “bargaining chip,” noting that it “announces its position in the negotiations by showing this map.”
While Saeed believes that “the new agreement by turning the forum into an organization will help change the geopolitical situation of the region in some countries, and thus Egypt will become a regional center for energy transport, rather than Turkey, especially because there are arrangements and agreements between Egypt and Cyprus or Egypt and Israel to supply the gas extracted from these countries, it will go to Egypt until it is liquefied at the Idku and Damietta stations, to then be re-exported to Europe and other international markets ”, adding that “The step will have significant repercussions in Turkey.”
Managing the global gas market
Observers predict that the United States of America and France will join the new organization, especially with the presence of the American and French ambassadors and a US official at the organization’s charter signing ceremony.
Said told Al-Hurra that “the accession of the United States and France will give the organization more power with respect to the management of the global gas market.”
The joint statement of the founding countries of the organization stated that “the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum is open for any Eastern Mediterranean country to apply for membership, and for any other country or regional or international organization to apply to join it as an observer. as long as they adopt the values and objectives of the forum and share the desire to cooperate for the good of the well-being of the region. Set. ”
Saeed clarifies that “the accession of regional powers and important countries can take off the balance of the influence of some countries such as Russia and Iran, especially because they are two countries that contain large reserves and countries that export large amounts of gas, and thus the union from the United States and France will reestablish the accounts of gas exports and their prices worldwide, in addition to the implications of this, specifically for Turkey. ”
Said added: “We know the state of tension between Turkey and France, as we have seen the last period of US actions in support of Cyprus and Greece.”
Last Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Turkey and Greece to abandon any military escalation and focus on seeking a diplomatic solution to the gas dispute between them in the eastern Mediterranean.
Pompeo said in an interview with the radio “France Inter”, “This problem must be solved without the use of military force, but through natural mechanisms, through international decisions, especially with regard to the rights associated with it. region”.
“The military footprint must be reduced everywhere and resort to diplomatic, not military, means,” he added.
Turkey and Greece are fighting for sovereignty over the eastern Mediterranean towers, which are likely rich in natural gas. Tensions worsened in late August, when Athens and Ankara held parallel military exercises, and Turkey’s deployment last month brought the main seismic vessel, Aruj, into an area that Greece confirms it belongs to.
France clearly announced its support for Greece by deploying warships and fighter jets in the region, in an initiative strongly condemned by Ankara.
Finally, the Turkish seismic reconnaissance ship returned to the Turkish coast on Sunday, opening the way for a truce between the two countries, but Turkey extended the operations of the seismic reconnaissance ship Barbaros Khair El Din Pasha off Cyprus until the 18th. October.
The Mediterranean crisis is on the agenda of a European summit to be held on September 24 and 25 in Brussels, with the possibility of imposing sanctions on Turkey.
