Testing the waters Offshore drilling threatens regional stability

摘要

1. An escalating dispute has emerged in the eastern Mediterranean as Cyprus and Turkey move to undertake exploratory drilling in their offshore territories.2. The region could have significant deposits of natural gas, a hope given credence by the discovery of potentially huge gas deposits off the coast of Israel.3. Turkey's assertion that it will back up its drilling activities with naval assets has raised the spectre of a military stand-off and possible confrontation, although the risk of conflict in the short term remains low.