The European Union has imposed sanctions on two senior executives of Turkish Petroleum Corp (TPAO) over work by two drillships in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The EU labelled the pair as the key operatives of what it calls the company's “illegal” and “unauthorised” drilling activities.
The move targets TPAO vice president Mehmet Ferruh Akalin, who is also head of the company's exploration department, as well as the department's deputy director Ali Coscun Namoglu.
The sanctions prohibit making any funds or economic resources available to the executives, either directly or indirectly.
The TPAO activities that drew the EU's ire are carried out by TPAO’s 51,300-gt sisterships Fatih and Yavuz (both built 2011).
The company spent more than $410m to buy the two rigs in 2017 and 2018. The vessels originally belonged to an alliance between Odfjell Drilling and Greek shipowner Metrostar Management, which eventually went sour.
The EU sanctions announced on 27 February let TPAO and its drillships off the hook, at least for now.
“In circumstances where we do not understand that TPAO is owned by either of the two individuals, this would not prevent dealing with TPAO itself or the two vessels,” Daniel Martin, a London-based partner at law firm HFW, told TradeWinds.
That approach is in line with general EU policy to step up sanctions gradually, thus allowing its diplomats political and diplomatic wriggle room to climb down or extract more concessions.
TPAO managers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company had been considered the most likely target of the sanctions since EU officials said earlier this year they would take maesures to protect the interests of fellow member state Cyprus.
The EU argues that TPAO is drilling within Cyprus's exclusive economic zone in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey, by contrast, doesn't recognise any Cypriot government before a political settlement that takes account of the population in the Turkish-controlled north.
The EU's decision "is a new example of its biased and unlawful attitude under the pretext of Union solidarity," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. It "has no value for us and it is null and void".
This article has been updated since its original publication to include a statement by the Turkish foreign ministry
