If the Israeli and Cypriot companies licensed to develop the Aphrodite-Yishai gas field do not reach an agreement on the matter by March 4, the state will get involved, Energy Minister Karin Elharrar said last week in a letter to Nammax Oil and Gas Ltd.
“Israel never gave up on its rights to the Yishai Reservoir, including the demand that the reservoir not be opened unilaterally... This stance has been made clear to all sides a number of times on different occasions,” she wrote in response to a letter from Herzliya-based Nammax, which, together with Israel Opportunity, holds the license to operate the field.
Israel and Cyprus have been involved in a years-long dispute over the development of the gas field in the Mediterranean. About 10% of the Aphrodite-Yishai gas field is in Israel’s exclusive economic zone, and the rest belongs to Cyprus. The two countries agreed in 2010 to develop it together.
The Energy Ministry estimates the Israeli part of Aphrodite-Yishai has 10 billion to 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas, much less than the Leviathan gas field, which has an estimated 605 bcm.
After Cyprus moved toward developing Aphrodite, the Energy Ministry under former minister Yuval Steinitz agreed with its Cypriot counterpart last March that the companies involved would negotiate and reach an agreement within a year.
