Turkey's New Petroleum Law

Turkey enacted a new Petroleum Law in June to help attract international investment in its offshore oil and gas resources in the manner currently being experienced in neighbouring Cyprus, Israel and Lebanon. Nina Howell, counsel in King & Spalding's London office, discusses the new law amid growing interest in the east Mediterranean.

The Levant Basin, a deep marine basin in the east Mediterranean between Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, has historically been overlooked as an area for hydrocarbons. But recent gas discoveries in the region have changed that perception, and interest among gas players is growing. In 2010 the US Geological Survey suggested that the basin may hold up to 3.5 trillion cubic metres of natural gas.