“Energy giants from Gulf states” are interested in possibly drilling for natural gas in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), President Nikos Christodoulides said on Friday.
Addressing the Energy symposium in Nicosia, he said this interest constitutes a “vote of confidence in the prospects of Cyprus’ EEZ”.
He said work is “progressing intensively” regarding the ‘Aphrodite’ deposit in block 12, with Energy Minister George Papanastasiou having said last week that the revised plan for the deposit submitted by American corporation Chevron in September is now being “discussed at a technocratic level”.
On the matter of the ‘Kronos’ reservoir, he said Italian energy company Eni are expected to submit a development plan soon, and that he had held a telephone conversation with the company’s head Claudio Descalzi on Thursday.
Papanastasiou said last week that Eni is “fast tracking” the process.
“We expect this month or next for there to be a development and production plan” for the deposit in question, Papanastasiou said, adding that the gas from the ‘Kronos’ reservoir will also be taken to Egypt for liquefaction and subsequent export.
He said the infrastructure used would be that which is currently in place for the liquefaction of natural gas extracted from Egypt’s ‘Zohr’ gas field, and that “based on forecasts, we will see the first Cypriot gas on the surface in the first half of 2027.”
Christodoulides on Friday also touched on the matter of the electrical interconnector which will connect Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete, saying his government will “proceed with announcements” over whether or not it will become a stakeholder in the project soon.
He added that the government is in consultation with both the Greek government and the French government, and the government of the United Arab Emirates, with the aim of “creating a joint company” which will become a stakeholder.
Additionally, he said, he has been in contact with representatives from the United States, with American investment funds having reportedly also expressed interest in the project.
Greece’s independent power transmission operator Admie owns the project and had requested that Cyprus pay €100 million to buy into the project’s holding company.
On that matter, the Cypriot government has demanded access to a cost-benefit analysis and the time to evaluate it before coming to a final decision, George Panteli, the finance ministry’s then permanent secretary, had said in September Cyprus’ authorities have not yet seen the project’s financing plan.
Christodoulides was on Friday keen to express the importance of the interconnector project, saying, “this project is not only for Greece, it is not only for Cyprus, but it is important for the European Union.”
He added that it falls into line with targets set by the EU regarding the price paid by consumers for energy at the end of the decade, saying that in this sense, the interconnector is “a project of common European interest”.
On Friday, Christodoulides also touched on the matter of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Vasiliko.
He said the process of purchasing project management services from public natural gas infrastructure company Etyfa is “being completed” with the aim of restarting work as soon as possible after the contract with the CPP-Metron Consortium (CMC) to construct the terminal was torn up by the government earlier this year.
Once Etyfa has selected a project manager, the individual will assist Etyfa in drafting tender documents for the contracts for the remaining works at Vasiliko, which are to be re-tendered following the termination of the contract.
He then added that the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Prometheas, which will form part of the LNG project, will arrive on the island at some point in December.
Papanastasiou had confirmed last week that the terminal would set sail from Shanghai at the beginning of the month and said it would take between 20 and 45 days to arrive.
Ministry spokesman George Arotis told the Cyprus Mail this large discrepancy in potential arrival times has come about as the ship will first have to go to a port somewhere on the way from Shanghai to Cyprus to be officially certified for its use as an FSRU.
The ministry has not yet decided on where the certification process will be carried out, and as such, the route has not yet been mapped and the timetable for its arrival remains loose.
