Greek-turkish conflict over gas in the Mediterranean; France comes to aid of Greece

 The turkish government makes another attempt for explorations for gas in the Mediterranean. The greek government opposes those activities, because it estimates Turkey hereby violates the greek exclusive economic zone, writes WELT: 

"The "Oruc Reis" is on the way again. The 86-meter-long Turkish research ship, named after a legendary admiral from the Ottoman Empire, searches for gas and oil deposits in the eastern Mediterranean. The technical equipment on board enables the seabed to be explored seismically to a depth of 15,000 meters. It is already the second research voyage of the ship, it should last until 23 August. But whether this will actually happen is uncertain. The “Oruc Reis” had to abort its first mission three weeks ago. And today the situation is similar to that which already forced the ship to return to the port of Antalya

 

Nord Stream 2: Germany's indifference to US positions and the unpleasant surprise of sanctions

 An interesting op-ed piece in the german newspaer "WELT" by Matthew Karnitschnig Chief Europe Correspondent of Politico: 

"If there is one thing that the American president has been extremely adept at since his inauguration in 2016, it is getting under Germany's skin. This is the case with transatlantic trade policy, with defense spending and also with the controversial German-Russian gas project Nord Stream 2.

The latest outburst of anger was triggered in early August by a letter sent by three US senators who supported Trump to the operator of a Baltic port in the constituency of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The senators threatened the port managers with "devastating legal and economic sanctions" if they continued to support the pipeline project by supplying the Russian ships that are building the pipeline. 

Destination China: Iran secretly transfers oil to other vessels on the high seas

 Radiofarda writes: 

"TankerTrackers.com, a company that tracks and reports shipments and storage of crude oil says Iran probably exports twice as much oil as estimated.
In its latest report, the online service has referred to India's tanker Giessel that recently received its cargo from an Iranian oil tanker in the Sea of Oman and delivered it to China.
Various cases of transferring Iranian oil shipments to other tankers in the middle of oceans have been reported. Such operations are aimed at covering up the source of oil shipments and movements of tankers.
Based on the data provided by Kpler, an international data intelligence company, Giessel's case was first reported by Radio Farda on August 6.2

 You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-s-real-oil-exports-might-be-much-higher-than-estimated/30773893.html

Nord Stream 2: US sanctions designate german port of Sassnitz; threat of economic annihilation

US Senators, among them Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Ron Johnson have written a letter to the managment of the port of Sassnitz in northern Germany, where the pipes for the remaining 160 km of the controversed Nord Stream 2 pipeline are stored.

In this letter the senators made the management understand that they will face direct and immediate sanctions (travel bans, freezing of assets in the US) should they support further working steps to complete Nord Stream 2. What makes this additionally dicey is the fact that Sassnitz is in the constituency of german chancellor Angela Merkel. Welt: 

"After the recent US threats of sanction against German project partners of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, German government officials were outraged - nothing more. There was no comment on possible reactions to US interference.

But it can no longer stop tere: In a letter from Wednesday, US senators threaten the German ferry port Sassnitz on Rügen directly and “legally binding” for economic destruction. The port is in the constituency of Angela Merkel (CDU).

Natural gas: Turkey's sabre-rattling in the Mediterranean

Littoral states to the Mediterranean, and especially Greece, are at a loss how to deal with a turkish government that is increasingly bullying countries with natural resources, trying to have a piece of the cake writes german newspaper "WELT":

"A few weeks ago, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said something that sounded reassuring, but on closer inspection it was not. He was "mathematically certain," he told TV station A Haber, "that Greece did not want to go to war with Turkey." Akar referred to the continuing tensions between the two countries, which have been arguing over their sea borders and economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean for years.

Indeed, Greece certainly does not want war. Such a situation would be devastating for the small, economically troubled country. Nonetheless, one of NATO's largest and most expensive air forces and navies is affording itself - solely to be prepared for an armed conflict with Turkey.

Still, Akar's statement was anything but reassuring. Because two things remained unsaid, but clearly resonated.

Firstly, that Turkey is very willing to take up arms in an emergency. Second, that it can stick to the strategy of deploying its research ships and its Navy, which has been upgraded for this purpose since 2005, in waters that Greece claims to have.

Egypt: oil export from Sumed pipeline suffers from lack of demand

"The destruction of European lifting of crude from Sumed was particularly pronounced in June and there has been a slight revival in July. Demand may be helping. Data from the TomTom Traffic Index show congestion remaining well below normal levels in cities in Spain and Italy, key markets for Sumed crude, but a slow pick-up in run rates at the region’s refineries is beginning to draw more crude from the pipeline."

writes Bloomberg.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-27/egypt-s-giant-oil-pipeline-toward-europe-slows-to-a-trickle

European Green Deal: revision of 2 eco-directives

European Press Service:

"One of the aims of the European Green Deal is to increase the EU's climate ambition so that greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by at least 50% and towards 55% in a responsible way by 2030. This was a key pledge from President von der Leyen when she was confirmed in office by the European Parliament. The European Green Deal communication has identified a series of climate, energy and environmental legislation that needs to be reviewed and if necessary revised in order to achieve such increased ambition. Both the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001/EU) and the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU and 2018/2002/EU) are among the instruments that are assessed.

As the first step in this process, the Commission has today published roadmaps for the review of both directives to inform stakeholders and citizens of what the goals of this initiative are and which policy options are being considered, and opened a seven-week period (3 August – 21 September) for public feedback on the concept. This will feed in to the Commission’s further preparatory work for these reviews."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/review-renewables-and-energy-efficiency-directives-commission-launches-first-steps-process-2020-aug-04_en