The Turkish site Ahval reports that the US naval presence in the Mediterranean is increasing: the American oil giant Exxon Mobil is preparing to send two ships to conduct exploration activities in the same waters off Cyprus, despite the activity of the Navy Turkish and despite what happened to Eni.
Together with the Cypriot government, Exxon and Qatar Petroleum signed a contract for exploration and production together with the Cypriot government last year. Under the contract, drilling will begin this year off the coast of the island.
The disputes of Ankara in Cyprus concern the possibility of freely exploiting its waters in the Exclusive Economic Zone claiming that they fall under Turkish-Cypriot jurisdiction.
There is no shortage of tensions off the coast of Cyprus: after preventing last month the drilling for hydrocarbons of the vessel Saipem 12000 chartered by Eni, Ankara threatens to stop the next international explorations, starting with the American ExxonMobil.
Today, in a joint press conference with Tufan Erhurman, who leads the Turkish Cypriot government, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, with reference to the planned drilling of ExxonMobil, said that "the provocative activities will be addressed with the appropriate response".
According to the Cypriot press, in order to avoid a crisis similar to the one involving Eni ExxonMobil, it will be accompanied to the area by the US Sixth Fleet.