PREVIEW
Ankara’s support for rival Tripoli-based administration had held up legislature’s backing
Having previously rejected it due to Ankara’s support for the rival government based in Tripoli, the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) aligned with General Khalifa Haftar is set to approve a deal for Turkey to explore for oil and gas off Libya.
The agreement was struck between Turkey and then Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Accord Faiez el Serraj in November 2019. It delineates maritime zones between the two countries even though they are not adjacent (AC Vol 61 No 3, A game of many nations).
HoR speaker Aguila Saleh had described the boundary deal as ‘null and void’ because it was not approved by the assembly, calling it a violation of Libyan sovereignty. The legislature’s stance softened in recent months as the Turkish government rebuilt ties with Haftar’s allies who control eastern Libya. Libyan oil production recovered this year after the eastern government ordered the suspension of production in 2024 (Dispatches, 3/9/24, Oil output collapses as central bank stand-off continues).
In June, Libya’s National Oil Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey’s state oil company for exploration in four offshore blocks between Libya and Crete, Greece’s largest island. As a result, Turkish survey and drilling vessels could begin work in a corridor between Turkey and Crete, bolstering Ankara’s claims in the eastern Mediterranean.
That will cause a major headache for Greece, which challenges the legality of the MoU, calling it a violation of its national waters. Egypt also opposes the Libya-Turkey deal. Athens wants to exploit the oil and gas reserves itself, and in May tendered for exploration blocks south of Crete that overlap waters Libya claims.
Greece has the support of the European Union, which contends that the Libya–Turkey MoU infringes third-state rights and conflicts with the UN Law of the Sea, though Turkey is not a signatory of that convention.
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