Simos Simou — 21/11/2015
By George Telaveris
Israel, Cyprus and Egypt are in discussions about the possibility of exporting natural gas to Turkey, according to the Israeli energy minister, Yuval Steinitz.
“I’m not allowed to say much about this but we are examining the option,” he told Globes newspaper, referring to discussions among Israel, Cyprus and Egypt on the joint development of gas fields in their countries.
“The first option is the joint development of reservoirs and through the existing liquefied gas installations in Egypt and a second option is building a gas pipeline to Turkey, and from there the gas can continue to Europe.” Sending gas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) gas plants is in line with statements by the Cyprus energy minister, George Lakkotrypis, who says that talks about exporting natural gas to Egypt are advancing.
However, exporting gas through Turkey is something that government officials in Cyprus have always emphasised could only be an option if the Cyprus problem is solved.
Meanwhile, the border issue is moving forward. Steinitz confirmed to Globes that Cyprus and Israel are making progress on signing the long-awaited unitisation agreement that would regulate the treatment of gas fields that cross the maritime boundary.
Signature of the agreement would allow for the development of the Cyprus Aphrodite gas field as well as set the stage for other cooperation in the energy sector.
“An Israeli delegation will leave for Cyprus in the coming few days to push forward on the matter and our aim is to sign an agreement in the coming few months,” said Steinitz.
The need to sign an agreement has become to the fore after the massive Zohr gas find in Egyptian water.
This will bring a new round of exploration in the Levantine basin according to Cypriot and Israeli energy ministers speaking in different locations on Wednesday.
“The discovery of the Zohr natural-gas field off Egypt opens up the possibility of further exploration and new finds elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, including in Cyprus,” Lakkotrypis told Bloomberg this week.
Italy’s Eni announced the discovery of an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in late August. This is larger than Leviathan, at approximately 20 tcf and Aphrodite, at around 4.5 tcf.
Also this week Steinitz announced that Israel’s natural gas sector has the potential to attract some $20 billion of foreign investment in the next few years.
“Probably there are some more Leviathans or Tamars, or Zohrs in Egypt, to be found in the eastern Mediterranean basin – by this I mean the economic waters of Israel, Cyprus and Egypt in the next five years,” Steinitz said at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in the capital.
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