TIRANA, May 12 – Albania has sent an official protest to Greece over the Hellenic republic’s plan for oil exploration in the Ionian Sea, including in disputed waters between the two countries.
The Albanian Foreign Ministry handed over a protest note to Athens, expressing concern over the lack of transparency in the maps provided for oil exploration, which Albanians fear mark disputed areas as Greek territory.
Albania had asked Greece several times to provide Tirana with the maps it was giving foreign companies on where to look for oil in the Ionian Sea, but apparently the Greeks had refused, sources in the foreign ministry said.
A decision on the exploration is expected to be made next month, and crisis-hit Greece has pinned many hopes in finding new sources of revenue through oil exploration in the Aegean and Ionian seas.
Albanian media reported that the Greek Foreign Ministry canceled at the last minute a previously scheduled meeting with the Albanian ambassador as a result of the note of protest.
Tirana has asked the Greek government to stop the exploration plan in the disputed area, after the Greek government gave an oil and gas exploration company a concession contract for the Ionian Sea, where Greece and Albania have yet to achieve a maritime border agreement.
A previous agreement between the two countries, which angered many Albanians who saw it as giving away large swaths of maritime territory to Greece, was voided by the Albanian Constitutional Court in 2009.
PDIU, a member of the ruling Socialist-led coalition and a party that represents Cham Albanians who where ethnically cleansed from northern Greece at the end of World War II, said in a statement it valued the protest note the Albanian authorities had sent.
“The days when Greece got to play the tough guy in the region are over,” the statement said.
The Albanian government has also invited international investors to participate and get involved in onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration.
Speaking at an international energy summit in Tirana earlier this year, Prime Minister Edi Rama described energy as one of the most important sources of Albania’s growth at a time when the country is set to become a regional gas hub from the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline bringing Caspian gas to Europe through Albania, Greece and Italy.
