EU halts plans to blacklist Turkey oil execs

Brussels has frozen plans to sanction senior executives at Turkish Petroleum Corp, four diplomats told Reuters news.

The European Union has frozen plans to blacklist more senior executives at Turkey’s state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), four diplomats said, in the clearest sign that a diplomatic offensive by Ankara this year is bearing fruit. European Union leaders in December had proposed asset freezes and travel bans over Turkey’s “unauthorised drilling activities” for natural gas in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean, although they did not specify individuals. The EU had also agreed to weigh tougher economic sanctions at a summit on March 25-26, after a difficult year in which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed publicly his hope that protests in France would topple President Emmanuel Macron.