EU keeps EastMed gas pipeline on new list of priority projects - REUTERS

November 28, 2023
Francesca Landini

MILAN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The European Commission has maintained a proposed pipeline connecting the gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean to Greece via Cyprus and Crete on its new list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) published on Tuesday.

Projects included in the PCI list have access to a fast-track permitting process and special funding.

Energy group Edison (EDNn.MI) and Greece's DEPA International Projects are the sponsors of the project through their joint venture IGI Poseidon.

The joint venture has still to take a final investment decision (FID) on the pipeline, which would connect several gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean, including some in offshore Israel, to Greece.

EastMed: The US just stated the obvious - CYPRUS MAIL

January 16, 2022

Dr Charles Ellinas

• EastMed never was viable and technically it stretched the limits
• The world has moved on and it’s time we did too

The news last Monday that the US State Department finally abandoned the EastMed gas pipeline should not have come as a surprise – the US stated the obvious. Sadly, instead of this announcement attracting the openminded response it deserves, much of the publicity in the Greek and Cypriot press has been negative and in cases demeaning, preferring to conjure conspiracies behind it, rather than doing the obvious and simple thing: taking it at face value.

But these responses will not detract from the fact that the future is in clean energy and electricity interconnections, that facilitate electrical stability and wider adoption of renewables in a region that has the potential and can really benefit from transition to clean energy – and not in gas exports. That is exactly what I have been advocating for years now.

European Commission to fund major LNG project in Greece - RIVIERA NEWS

22 Jun 2021

The European Commission (EC) will provide €166.7M (US$198M) for the construction of a new LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis, Greece

Funding for the project, which is expected to improve security of supply for Greece and the wider southeastern European region, was approved under the EU’s state aid rules.

Commenting on the EC’s decision, executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager said “The new LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis will improve gas supply and infrastructure not only in Greece, but in the whole southeastern European region. This will contribute to achieving the EU’s goals in terms of security and diversification of energy supply. The Greek support measure limits the aid to what is necessary to make the project happen and sufficient safeguards will be in place to ensure that potential competition distortions are minimised.”

The Greek State will finance the project using European Structural and Investment Funds and support will take the form of a direct grant amounting to €166.7M (US$198M).

Anastasiades off to Egypt for first-ever EU-Arab League Summit - CYPRUS MAIL

February 23, 2019

President Nicos Anastasiades leaves for Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday, to attend the 1st EU-Arab League Summit, in the framework of which he is set to have bilateral meetings with heads of states in the region and to promote Cyprus’ initiative to play a coordinating role in introducing policies and strategies by neighbouring countries to tackle climate change.

The EU-League of Arab States (LAS) summit will bring together for the first time, heads of state or government with EU leaders.

European Council President Donald Tusk will co-chair the meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He will represent the EU along with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Anastasiades will meet with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, and Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri and Kind Abdullah of Jordan on Monday.

The meetings will offer the opportunity to further promote and enhance bilateral cooperation as well as the trilateral cooperation and to point out Cyprus’ role as a European pillar of stability and as a state that can boost security in the region by playing its role in the area, a statement said.

Political cooperation will enhance East Med gas prospects - CYPRUS MAIL

JANUARY 27, 2019
Charles Ellinas

Politicians can’t do much about gas prices but removing political risk from a region certainly makes it more attractive to energy buyers

Commercial viability for gas in the East Med is market driven and not under the control of politicians, but the newly established East Med Gas Forum which includes Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus can only contribute to geopolitical cooperation in the region.

The energy ministers and representatives from Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority met in Cairo on January 14 and set up the East Med Gas Forum (EMGF). European Commission and World Bank representatives also attended the meeting as observers.

The forum will be based in Cairo, with the aim to be “an international organisation that respects the rights of members with respect to their natural resources in accordance with the principles of international law, and support their efforts to benefit from their reserves and use of infrastructure”. This also includes “commitment to paving the way for fruitful cooperation in the technical and economic fields, with a view to efficient exploitation of the gas potential in the region”.

Crete grid link seen as national project despite EC pressure - ENERGY PRESS

17/12/2018

The energy ministry appears to have decided to develop the Crete-Athens electricity grid interconnection as a national project with EU cohesion policy funding through the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014 to 2020, despite intensifying European Commission pressure for this project to be headed by Euroasia Interconnector, a consortium of Cypriot interests heading a wider Greek, Cypriot and Israeli PCI-status interconnection project.

Brussels has stepped up its pressure on Greece with a new letter to RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, from Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Director at the European Commission’s Directorate B on the Internal Energy Market. It was received by the authority last Thursday.

Athens and Brussels have been at odds over the Crete-Athens link ever since RAE appointed an SPV named Ariadne, a Greek power grid operator IPTO subsidiary, as the project segment’s promoter.

Greek officials are believed to also be considering applying for the Crete-Athens link’s inclusion in a new PCI list to be published by the EU, possibly along with the Crete-Cyprus segment, as part of a new firm, if Nicosia agrees.

Beyond the Southern Gas Corridor: Interconnecting Central/East Europe and the Balkans? - NAOC

October 12, 2018October 12, 2018 

Mariana Liakopoulou

Following the August signing of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a large-scale gas pipeline project that aspires to connect the region’s copious hydrocarbon resources to the European markets, has been drawn back into international debate.

The present article illuminates how the SGC enhances the potential for cross-border interconnectivity amongst EU member-states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Balkans, as well as amongst the Energy Community contracting parties. The Energy Community is an initiative introduced at the onset of the twenty-first century by the EU and several third countries in its southeastern vicinity, focusing on the extension of the EU’s existing rules to aspirants for membership.

Revealed: ExxonMobil's private dinner with Cyprus' top EU brass - EU OBSERVER

De Warande

BRUSSELS, 14 AUGUST 2018, 06:56
PETER TEFFER

Oil and gas firm ExxonMobil recently hosted Cypriot MEPs, Cyprus' highest EU diplomat and EU commissioner Christos Stylianides at a dinner in a private club in Brussels, to inform them about its offshore drilling plans near Cyprus.

However, no record was made of what was said at the out-of-hours private event, causing concern for campaigners on the question of the EU's transparency and accountability on meetings with lobbyists.

The dinner, held in April, was confirmed by all parties - but only after EUobserver asked the European Commission for information about the meeting in an access to documents request.

The commission's register of meetings had merely stated that Stylianides – a Cypriot – had a meeting with ExxonMobil about "update of exploration activities offshore Cyprus".

Crunch year for Cyprus bid to become regional energy player - KATHIMERINI

Cypriot FM presents to Heads of Government, on behalf of the 

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (#CMAG) 

29 APRIL 2018 - 08:04Athanasios Ellis

Nicosia is building strong alliances with East Med neighbours to bolster its influence

Cyprus is ramping up efforts to become a regional energy player with 2018 seen as a critical year in deciding where it stands, Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides said in an exclusive interview with Kathimerini.

“All that I would like to say publicly is that 2018 will be a decisive year for the future of the Republic of Cyprus’ energy planning, its energy perspective, and that of the East Mediterranean in general,” said Christodoulides.

He said despite the negative development of Turkish naval ships blocking an ENI drill rig in February from accessing Cyprus’ EEZ, Nicosia’s energy plans continue to “run smoothly”.

"2018 will be a decisive year for the future of the Republic of Cyprus’ energy planning, its energy perspective"

“We are in constant contact and consultation with all the companies involved but also with the countries of the region as well as with EU Member States…we are in talks with Egypt and Israel, we have had related discussions with the governments of the USA, France, Italy , the European Commission.”

European Commission warns Turkey over its aggression toward Cyprus - KATHIMERINI

18.04.2018 : 09:38

The European Commission has warned Turkey that negotiations for EU accession will remain blocked as a result of its hostility towards Cyprus, according to its progress report.

European Commission's annual accession report on Turkey's EU progress said that one chapter has been put on ice until Brussels ascertains that Turkey has fully applied the so-called additional Ankara Protocol and displayed good neighbourly relations without threats.

This binds Turkey to extend recognition to Cyprus and to allow Cypriot shipping to access Turkish ports and Cypriot planes to use its airspace as a precondition for further accession negotiations.

"As long as restrictions remain in place on vessels and aircraft registered in or related to Cyprus or whose last port of call was Cyprus, Turkey will not be in a position to fully implement the acquis relating to this chapter," said the report.

Turkey does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus despite it being a Member of the EU and it is the only country to recognise the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.

Energy programme proceeding as planned, president tells oil and gas forum - CYPRUS MAIL

March 27, 2018

Jean Christou

Cyprus is promoting three projects that were selected by the European Commission as projects of common interest, because of their benefits to the European energy market, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday.

The president was addressing the 9th Mediterranean Forum on Oil and Gas in Nicosia, telling delegates that recently, two of the projects had secured EU funding. Specifically, €101 million will be allocated to the CyprusGas2EU project, while the EastMed Pipeline had been awarded €34.5m for technical studies.

Amid Cypriot Tensions, US Navy, ExxonMobil Arrive in Mediterranean - SPUTNIK

06.MARCH.2018 01:39

On the same day, ships from both the US Navy and Marine Corps, as well as oil surveyors from ExxonMobil, arrived in the Mediterranean Sea. The ships’ arrival comes just days after a standoff between Turkish naval vessels and Italian drillers over a disputed economic zone.

The US is bolstering its presence in the region as Turkey appears to be increasingly willing to use or at least threaten force to uphold its interests in the illegally occupied northern third of Cyprus. The latest tensions center on an underwater oil discovery.

Last December, an oil find at a location between Egypt and Cyprus called the Zohr Site was discovered. Believed to be host to trillions of barrels of untapped oil, Zohr's discovery has led to a black gold rush in the surrounding area for similar sites.

Sure enough, in February, ENI announced the discovery of the Zohr-esque Calypso field. On February 9, the Turkish navy shadowed a drilling ship owned by Italian multinational ENI as it undertook an exploratory mission at the Soupia Site.

The need to import gas has now become urgent - CYPRUS MAIL

FEBRUARY 11, 2018 Charles Ellinas

THE European Commission (EC) agreed to partially fund the cost of infrastructure to enable Cyprus to import LNG. This was one of the 17 projects selected under the framework of the European support programme for trans-European infrastructure Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) on 25 January.

The specific project is known as CyprusGas2EU and its purpose, according to the EU list of projects, is to ‘remove internal bottlenecks in Cyprus to end isolation and to allow for the transmission of gas from the Eastern Mediterranean region.’

In fact, as far as Cyprus is concerned, the main purpose of the project, at least initially, is to enable the import of LNG for power generation. The island must switch its electricity generation from burning heavy fuel oil (HFO) to natural gas by 2020 if it is to avoid hefty fines by the EC.

If at a later stage, sufficient gas discoveries are made and if it is commercially feasible to build a greenfield LNG liquefaction plant at Vasilikos, the LNG import facilities could be modified to facilitate export of LNG.

The EC appears to understand and support this position.

EU to fund planning of pipeline from Leviathan to Europe Leviathan gas field Photo: Noble Energy - GLOBES

29 Jan, 2018 11:06

Amiram Barkat and Sonia Gorodeisky

The EU has allocated €34.5 million to complete planning, so that a decision can be made about the pipeline.

The European Union (EU) will fund the detailed planning for laying a natural gas pipeline from Israel's Leviathan offshore gas reservoir to Europe. On January 25, the European Commission in Brussels published a list of its priority clean energy projects for 2018 that will receive €873 million in aggregate funding.

The project, called EastMed, is for an undersea pipeline from Leviathan through Cypriot waters to Crete and Italy. The EU has allocated €34.5 million to complete planning, so that a final decision can be made about investing in the project in 2019.

Cyprus receives €101MM grant for FSRU project - HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

JAN/25/2018

Connecting Europe announced on January 25 that it will support the introduction of natural gas in Cyprus through the CyprusGas2EU project (EU support of €101 MM).

The grant will help end the present energy isolation of the Cyprus, bring diversification to a region dominated by a single source of supply, and help reduce air pollution and emissions by allowing switching from heavy fuel oil to gas for power generation. It will also improve energy security and price competitiveness.

Read the full press release from the European Commission here.

Gulf Publishing Company will host the fifth incarnation of its Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference (EMGC) in Nicosia, Cyprus,from 21–22 March 2018. The conference provides attendees with the latest and most accurate information on the region’s developing natural gas industry, and the ability to gain entry to regional markets and seek potential new business partners.

Idku Option Frontrunner For East Med Gas - ENERGY CENTRAL / BMI RESEARCH

August 24, 2017

BMI View: In line with our long-held view, the proposition to pipe natural gas from the Leviathan and Aphrodite fields to the Idku LNG plant in Egypt represents the most compelling export scenario for the fields. The Egyptian option is both less politically sensitive and less capital intensive than the alternative scenarios.

Royal Dutch Shell is in discussions to buy natural gas from Israel's Leviathan field, combine it with output from Cyprus's Aphrodite field in which it owns a 35% stake, and pipe it to the Idku LNG plant in Egypt. The two train LNG terminal at Idku has a capacity of 7.2mn tonnes per annum and could accept gas deliveries of around 10bcm. Sufficient offtake from the LNG facility may allow for full-field developments at Leviathan and Aphrodite, unlike other export options where demand is lower.

Gazprom starts TurkStream 2 natural gas pipeline preparations - PLATTS

London (Platts)--20 Jul 2017 1106 am EDT/1506 GMT

Stuart Elliott, Rosemary Griffin, Siobhan Hall

Russia's Gazprom has begun carrying out preparations for the laying of the second string of the two-line TurkStream natural gas pipeline to Turkey, a company spokesman said Wednesday, but he denied a report in a Russian newspaper that pipe-laying in the Black Sea for the second string had started.

TurkStream -- whose two lines will each have a capacity of 15.75 Bcm/year -- is designed to supply the Turkish domestic market and markets in southeast Europe, bypassing the traditional transit route via Ukraine.

With Turkey fuming, French Frigate patrols off Cyprus, energy drilling begins - NEW EUROPE

Turkish military search and rescue exercise with helicopters & ships
near Ammochostos, Cyprus, June 14, 2017

JULY 19, 2017, 19:49
Kostis Geropoulos

French-Italian consortium hunts energy, Cyprus ignores Ankara’s warnings

French Minister for Armed Forces Florence Parly visited Cyprus for the first time on July 17 as a consortium of France’s Total and Italy’s ENI begun drilling in Block 11 of the Mediterranean island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), despite threats from neighbouring Turkey.

Parly was reportedly briefed by her Cypriot counterpart Christoforos Fokaides on Total’s drilling in Cyprus’ EEZ. Fokaides met Parly at the Zenon crisis management centre in Larnaca, ahead of her visit to the French Navy frigate Languedoc, which is currently operating in the East Med, Cyprus Mail reported.

Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said on July 17 the natural gas exploration was going as planned. “There is nothing causing concern or affecting our energy planning,” he said.

Energy Minister Lakkotrypis “cautiously optimistic” oil majors will discover more gas finds offshore Cyprus - NEW EUROPE

Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Republic of Cyprus

JUNE 30, 2017 UPDATED 10:51 
Kostis Geropoulos

LAGONISSI, GREECE – Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy and the European Commission are committed to push forward a pipeline project to export recent gas deliveries from the East Mediterranean region, Cyprus’ Energy Minister told New Europe on June 29.

“I think the commitment of the four countries that are involved and the Commission was proven when we had the quadrilateral meeting in Tel Aviv and continues to be so when we had the trilateral just a few days ago in Salonica between Greece, Cyprus and Israel,” Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in Lagonissi, south of Athens.

SGCC agreement for 24% of IPTO endorsed by Brussels - ENERGY PRESS

11.5.2017

The European Commission has endorsed an agreement between state-controlled PPC, the main power utility, and China’s SGCC (State Grid Corporation of China) for the latter’s acquisition of a 24 percent stake in the power grid operator IPTO (ΑΔΜΗΕ), a PPC subsidiary.

The proposed acquisition, priced at 320 million euros, does not breach EU competition regulations, the European Commission announced.

The Greek government had submitted its application to Brussels, seeking an endorsement for the agreement, just over a month ago, on April 10.