Cyprus wants to take the place of Gazprom

Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis said that his country is no longer economically dependent on the Russian Federation and is able to save Europe from the cold weather instead of Gazprom with Mediterranean gas.

Mr. Anastasiades is sure that Cyprus has every opportunity for this. For the sake of this goal, he does not exclude partnership with Israel and Turkey. Although he has a rather tense relationship with the latter. However, Cyprus wants to be one of the energy suppliers (in 2027 or earlier) to the Old World.

In the context of the energy crisis, Europe needs to build an economic future “in conjunction” with reliable partners who share its interests and values. Cyprus has already attracted well-known companies such as Chevron, Shell, Eni, Total and Qatar Oil to cooperate. They will help develop the country’s raw material resources and are already actively working.

The plans for the future include the supply of blue fuel, in particular, to Egypt, where it will be turned into a liquid for transportation by tankers. It will be possible to produce 5-10 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the Aphrodite field alone for 10-15 years, starting from 2027. Everything will depend on the buyers of the license.

Nikos Anastasiades is confident that the start of gas supplies from the fields of Cyprus can be significantly accelerated. The European Union has already signed an agreement with Egypt and Israel, according to which it plans to facilitate gas supplies from these countries, as well as from all sources in the eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus. This would give enterprises an incentive to accelerate the creation of the required infrastructure.

Before the start of the war in Ukraine, the gas price was much lower and did not motivate the emergence of new energy supply structures. At present, the situation has changed dramatically. Now the aggressive behavior of Turkey in the sea near Cyprus is an obstacle to the start of gas supplies, notes GreekReporter.

Source link