Abstract:

This article is divided in three sections; the first is presenting the plethora of fiber optic and power cable geographical distribution, providing to the reader an insight to underwater infrastructure. Readers can bind together the importance of survey, lay, repair and maintenance of underwater cables and pipelines, based on the legal framework provided by the Energy Treaty and UNCLOS. The second section provides a brief report on notions mentioned in the International Energy Treaty. We also mention the Energy Treaty and the Energy Treaty Charter as a case study for pipeline and power cable installations; At the third section, we focus especially at the genesis of UNCLOS with regards to the EEZ maritime zone regime; At this section, we will present the difference between the terms marine research and cable route study, based on the applicable UNCLOS conventional terminology. The last section of this article will be an effort to carefully examine whether these two Treaties are sufficient to regulate transnational cable surveying and laying operations under the current geopolitical frame in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; as new oil and gas fields are being developed in the region two factors affect the geopolitical equilibrium: 1) The disputed EEZ's in the Eastern Mediterranean, 2) The role of Turkey based on its destabilizing and revisionist stand as this is highlighted by extreme geopolitical behaviors causing the present instability in the geopolitical environment of the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly with regards to the supply of energy from discovered gas reservoirs in the Eastern Mediterranean.