Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that Libya has submitted a request for natural gas exploration in its fields by Turkish ships, as part of a list of other countries.

Erdogan said in an interview with the Turkish channel Habar Turk, on Wednesday evening, that Ankara is receiving proposals regarding energy projects and gas exploration from different countries, especially Libya.

Erdogan added that Turkish exploration ships may help explore other countries' gas fields if necessary, saying that Ankara has an opportunity to sell the gas extracted in those countries.

Tensions have escalated among Turkey, Egypt, Greece, France and the European Union since the beginning of October after the Government of National Unity signed several agreements with Turkey, including those related to exploration in potentially gas-rich zones in the Mediterranean.

The move caused Egypt to freeze normalization talks with Turkey, according to the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, while Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the normalization process with Egypt "is progressing slowly compared to other countries", adding in a speech on Wednesday at a seminar entitled "Turkish Foreign Policy in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean" that the deal with Libya isn't against Egypt's interests.