Cyprus aims to start extracting gas from the fields in the country’s EEZ in 2027 or in the first half of 2028 the Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry, Michael Damianos has said.
He was speaking on the afternoon of 31 March, ahead of the Extraordinary Informal Meeting of EU Energy Ministers, taking place in Nicosia, within the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Responding to a question about the next steps following the framework agreement signed between Cyprus and Egypt for the development of fields in the Cypriot EEZ, which was signed in Cairo on Monday, 30 March, the Energy Minister spoke of “an important agreement”.
“We are proceeding to prove both internally, but mainly to our partners, companies, Egypt, the European Union, that we are moving forward with our energy programme”, he said. He further explained that natural gas from the Aphrodite deposit will be exported to Egypt for liquefaction and then for sale to the Egyptian market, while gas from the Cronos (field) will be exported to European markets via Egypt. This is the energy plan, the Minister noted.
Damianos also noted that “the agreement also refers to a broader cooperation regarding our deposits, because we have a strategic cooperation with Egypt.”
Preliminary engineering design expected around January 2027
“Regarding Aphrodite, the companies are proceeding with the preliminary engineering design (FEED) around January 2027 and the final investment decision also within 2027, possibly with the first natural gas from Aphrodite two to three years after the final investment decision,” he explained.
Regarding Cronos, he continued, “the schedule remains as we had said. We are finalising some key issues regarding the agreements themselves with ENI and Total and that is why we had a meeting at the level of the President of the Republic and the General Manager of Total and then a meeting with Total and ENI at my own level to see how we are progressing,” he said.
“As the President has said and as we have said in the past, we are moving forward with this agreement. We hope for the first natural gas from the Cypriot EEZ to be around the end of 2027 or within the first half of 2028. These timetables remain”, the Minister of Energy underlined.
Regarding the other fields licensed to the Exxon and Qatar Energy consortium, he pointed out that no agreement has been reached with Egypt, adding that discussions with Exxon have continued regarding the further commercialization of these fields in the coming weeks.
Responding to another question, Michalis Damianos noted that discussions on the ‘Ishai’ field are in the final stage. “Due to the situation in the Middle East, especially in Israel, you understand that communication and negotiations will necessarily have some delay”, he explained.
“It is not necessary for there to be an agreement on ‘Ishai’ for Chevron itself to proceed with the exploitation of the Aphrodite field, and that is why we are proceeding, but it will obviously help a lot if there is this agreement,” he said.
“We believe that we are close to an agreement on this issue as well. Several issues that were open regarding the legal framework of the agreements have been closed. We are optimistic that in the coming weeks or months, ‘Ishai’ will also be closed,” he concluded.
(Source: CNA)
