Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain, Jose Manuel Albares said today that the exploration for oil and gas planned by Morocco falls within its territorial waters despite the fact that the waters of the Atlantic coast are still undelimited.
“As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I will always monitor the interests of the Canaries and everything that may affect them to ensure their exclusion from any negative influence,” he told Europa Press on Friday, after his meeting with his Italian counterpart, Luigi di Maio.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, who met his Italian counterpart in Rome, stressed that among the issues he discussed with his counterpart was “the interest of some Italian companies in making discoveries on the Mediterranean coast from the Moroccan side.”
On April 13, 2022, Europa Oil & Gas published its interim results of the exploration process for the six-month period ending January 31, 2022. These indicate that Inzeganen near Agadir in the south of the Kingdom represents “a high-impact exploration opportunity in an under-explored region of the world.”
“A recent assessment has identified a significant volume of safely recoverable resources in excess of 1 billion barrels (oil equivalent) in the top five ranked prospects alone,” says the company in its interim results note.
Europa Oil & Gas notes that “Morocco offers a very attractive investment opportunity with excellent fiscal conditions.”
The Gas explorations sparked a major political debate within Spanish circles, prompting Angel Victor Torres, president of the Canary Islands, to “categorically” reject any oil exploration in the archipelago’s waters.
Torres assures that the drilling operations are located “in Moroccan waters and not in ‘Sahrawi’ or Canary Islands waters,” adding that “these explorations are under the jurisdiction of Morocco,” he said this Wednesday, April 20, in statements to the press.
The President stressed that the Madrid government rejects any unilateral steps by Morocco, especially with regard to the project to demarcate its regional and international waters, saying that “the Canary Islands’ government categorically rejects any oil exploration in the Canary waters.”
He declared that “the Canary Islands will be present in any negotiations taking place between Morocco and Spain, which have to do with the waters that flow between the Canary Islands and Morocco.”
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