Türkiye is interested in an offer from Tripoli to carry out energy exploration offshore Libya, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Wednesday.
"Libya has offered to us to work with our seismic vessels offshore. Frankly, we are warm to this. So we can be in the Libyan offshore to carry out seismic work," he told the state-owned Anadolu news agency.
In 2022, Ankara and Tripoli signed a preliminary accord on energy exploration, which Egypt and Greece oppose, according to Reuters.
Bayraktar added that Türkiyewas also interested in other projects in Libya and needed the "right project and partner".
Türkiye has been at odds with Greece, also a NATO member, over maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean. Disputes over hydrocarbon exploration strained ties between Ankara, Greece and the European Union, though relations improved in recent years as tensions have eased.
Bayraktar also said Türkiye was interested in gas fields off Egypt, with whom Türkiye has recently begun mending ties after a decade of animosity. The two countries were working on a project regarding Cairo's gas procurement that involved Turkish floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) ships, he said.
He also said Ankara aimed to send its Oruc Reis exploration vessel to Somalia by October to carry out seismic work there as part of a hydrocarbon cooperation deal between the countries.
