World Bulletin / News Desk

Azerbaijan warned Turkmenistan to stop energy exploration at an offshore field in a fresh case of territorial disputes over the oil and gas rich Caspian Sea that is bordered by five states.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned Turkmen ambassador Toyly Komekov to the Azeri Foreign Ministry and handed the envoy a protest note over exploration works at the Kyapaz field, the ministry said in a statement.

Kyapaz is an undeveloped field discovered by Soviet geologists, unlike another disputed field, Chirag, which is part of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project operated by BP and pumps 74,000 barrels per day to the Black Sea for export to the Mediterranean.

"Turkmenistan's illegal activities are unacceptable and Azerbaijan preserves the right to take appropriate measures to defend its sovereign rights in the Caspian," the ministry said.

Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that on June 16 it had strongly protested against Baku's attempts to stop scientific work carried by a civilian ship in the sector of the Caspian Sea, which "does not belong to Azerbaijan."

"The Turkmen side will implement adequate actions, if such provocations continue," the Turkmen ministry said.

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have long disputed the ownership of several Caspian oil and gas fields such as Kyapaz, called Serdar by Turkmenistan, and Chirag, which Ashgabat refers to as Osman.

Baku said exploration at the disputed field before a resolution of the dispute violated an agreement signed by the two countries in 2008.

Of the five Caspian states, only Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have agreed on the borders of their respective sectors since the fall of the Soviet Union.