Cyprus’ Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said the government concluded an agreement with US-based Noble Energy, Royal Dutch Shell and Israel’s Delek on the distribution of revenues from natural gas exploitation from the Aphrodite field in the eastern Mediterranean and the transfer of natural gas by underwater pipeline to Egypt’s Idku liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

Hydrocarbons Company CEO Charles Ellinas told New Europe on 5 June that the agreement struck between Cyprus and Noble Energy and its partners, paves the way to complete gas sales to Idku. Asked if this will be the only export option for Aphrodite and whether it will affect other projects in the region, he said that depends on how much of Aphrodite’s gas Idku is prepared to buy, there may also be a small surplus that could be sold to Egypt’s domestic market.

“The likelihood of this is low. Otherwise, this sale does not directly affect any deals between Egypt and Israel. But it sets back the idea of building a liquefaction plant in Cyprus by years, as it leaves insufficient gas to do so,” he said. Ellinas explained that something like 283 to 425 billion cubic metres of gas is needed for such a project, and the combined reserves of Calypso and Glafcos (with 90% probability) are about 198 billion cubic metres.

 

Full article available: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/cyprus-reworks-aphrodite-gas-deal-with-us-dutch-israeli-partners/