The Diplomat
The president of the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres, assured yesterday before the autonomous Parliament that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assured him that the oil prospecting carried out by Morocco off the Saharawi coast does not affect the waters of the archipelago.
On 24 September last, the Moroccan National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) and the Israeli company Ratio Petroleum Partnership concluded an agreement for the exploration of potential pockets of oil and gas off the coast of Dakhla, in an area of 109,000 square kilometers which includes the waters of Western Sahara and the southern Canary Islands. Under the agreement, the Israeli company obtains 100% of the exploration rights through a subsidiary in Gibraltar.
In response to a question from the spokesman of the Nueva Canarias Parliamentary Group, Luis Campos – in which he denounced the “passive attitude of the State and the Canary Islands Government” before this “very serious” fact that “affects the bordering waters of the Canary Islands” -, Torres assured yesterday that his Executive remains “very attentive and vigilant” before this information and warned that any action by Morocco must comply with the resolutions of the United Nations and international legality.
Likewise, he informed that, once he knew about these contracts, he immediately contacted the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, which resulted in the delivery of a first report from the Ministry in which it was assured that Morocco’s prospections did not collide with the waters of Spanish and Canary sovereignty, and that the head of the Moroccan diplomacy, Nasser Bourita, had been contacted to clarify doubts.
After receiving this first document, the Canary Government requested a second “more concrete” report to the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy, under the Navy, which reiterated the same conclusions of the previous one from Foreign Affairs. “Therefore, it is a contract very similar to those that have been made in the past,” Torres declared just a week ago after receiving this second report and in relation to other prospections carried out a few years ago by Morocco on its side of the imaginary median that separates Moroccan waters from Spanish waters in the Canary Islands area.
After learning of the signing of the contract, Senator Fernando Clavijo, from Coalición Canaria, urged José Manuel Albares to appear in the Upper House to report on this agreement which, he said, would confirm Morocco’s expansion plans, barely a year after the approval of two legislative texts to extend its exclusive economic zone by 200 miles and its continental shelf by 350 miles.
Ángel Víctor Torres first referred to this matter at the end of October, to guarantee that he had the full backing of the Government of Pedro Sánchez in the event that the prospecting would invade Canary Islands waters and, therefore, that it would be necessary to give a forceful response to Morocco.
