Egypt highlights benefits of Cyprus gas renegotiations - CYPRUS MAIL

AUGUST 27, 2018

Evie Andreou 

Egypt has nothing to fear from the ongoing renegotiations concerning the Cyprus natural gas deal, an Egyptian official has said.

In an interview with Ahram online, the former vice president of the Egyptian Petroleum Authority, Medhat Youssef, said that Cyprus’ renegotiation with energy companies over the revenue sharing agreement for the 4.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) Aphrodite gas field find is a normal procedure that should be undertaken if there is a change in the market, including oil prices.

Youssef said that any changes in the agreement would only guarantee benefits for every side involved including Egypt, Cyprus and foreign investors.

Cyprus’ cabinet last week appointed a committee to enter talks with energy companies. Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said that the best option would be to try and find a mutually acceptable solution with the consortium so that the Aphrodite reserve is developed as soon as possible.

Lakkotrypis: Interim Solution to be decided on in 2016 | Sigma Live

27.12.2015 SigmaLive

At the beginning of the year the government will decided on the interim solution for natural gas, Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said in an interview with the newspaper “Alitheia”.

On the basis of the facts, he said, there will be an agreement with the company VITOL, who will be using the natural gas from the “Aphrodite” field by 2020.  Lakkotrypis added that the interim solution had always been a difficult situation, because of the small amount that the Cypriot market would need.

He added that the attempt to reach a solution in one way or another will be reached by the beginning of 2016.

Lakkotrypis said that large companies are interested in acquiring Cyprus’ seismological data.  He said that the Cabinet will submit on Sunday a proposal to extend the research period of blocks 2, 3, and 9 for another two years, as Italian Gas Company ENI had asked.

On the French company TOTAL, Lakkotrypis said that there are goals to develop block 11.

Lakkotrypis finished by saying that there is intense interest by companies for the new round of licensing, and that there is also interest from existing companies that already have seismological data.

SOURCE

Ninth extension for interim gas project | Cyprus Mail

December 22, 2015 Cyprus

The Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) has again extended the validity of a tender for the import of natural gas for electricity generation.

The tender validity period, which previously expired on December 18, has been pushed back to February 12, 2016.

It is the ninth consecutive extension since the call for tender was issued in January 2014.

The DEFA tender calls for the supply of between 0.7 and 0.95 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually to the Cypriot market through two delivery routes. One route will begin supplying gas in early 2016 and the other no later than the second half of 2017.

DEFA is by law the sole importer and distributor of natural gas in Cyprus. Once it concludes a deal for natural gas with a supplier, DEFA will then sell the fuel to the power company.

Cyprus is reliant on heavy fuel oil imports for electricity generation, and wants to switch to the cheaper natural gas until its own offshore reserves come on tap.

DEFA’s end-stage negotiations with preferred bidder, Vitol, have dragged on for months. The Dutch energy firm is proposing a solution involving a Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU).

Tankers transporting LNG dock with an FSRU and load the liquid gas onto it. A vaporizer on board the FSRU – sitting out at sea, at a short distance off the coast – turns the liquid into gas, which is piped ashore. The gas is then burned to generate electricity.

Also in the running is Delek, the only bidder proposing to pipe the gas directly from the source – Israel’s Leviathan gas field.

This is the second tender for the import of natural gas. The first was scrapped in autumn 2013, when DEFA broke off talks  with the then-preferred bidder, Russian company Itera.

SOURCE

DEFA resumes work on interim gas solution after new board appointed | Cyprus Mail

DEFA resumes work on interim gas solution after new board appointed

NOVEMBER 19TH, 2015
By Angelos Anastasiou

The Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA), tasked with reaching agreement with a supplier for the so-called ‘interim solution’ to replace oil as the state power company’s (EAC) electricity-generation fuel with imported gas at lower cost, resumed work after its new board was appointed on Wednesday.

The interim solution scenario has been in the works for three years, but successive extensions to the tender review process have pushed the deadline back to December

2015, very close to the date designated as the start of the project – January 1, 2016.

On Tuesday, the government announced the appointment of DEFA’s new board, which features three new members – Marianna Charalambous, Giorgos Tripatsas, and Stefanos Stefos – in replacement of Nicos Makrides, Anastasis Kounoudis, and Adam Lomas.

The new board, deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos announced, will serve a five-year term.

DEFA, the EAC, and energy regulator CERA, have been invited by President Nicos Anastasiades to the Presidential Palace on Monday, in order to discuss the way forward and push for decisions on the interim solution.

The aim of lowering the cost of power generation has been at the forefront of Anastasiades’ policies, with the President often citing the price of electricity in Cyprus as an unacceptable reality that must be addressed.

Tenders were initially invited by the government in January 2014, with a view to finalising an agreement by that year’s summer.

However, the summer deadline passed and no deal was clinched, because the cost reductions did not justify the investment.

Three more extensions ensued, with a view to attaining better terms, but efforts have not yet proven fruitful.

Daily Phileleftheros reported that the preferred bidder thus far – Dutch energy giant Vitol – is still working on how to further reduce costs, and a further extension has been granted, until December 2015.

Meanwhile, the EAC appears to have reservations on whether, given falling oil prices globally, the pursued interim solution would truly reduce the price of electricity in Cyprus.

“The issue is being handled exclusively by DEFA,” EAC spokeswoman Christina Papadopoulou-Theofanidou told the Cyprus Mail.

“The EAC has a purely supportive role in evaluating the proposal selected by DEFA. A little more patience is required, before more can be said.”

It is hoped that Monday’s meeting at the Presidential Palace will help clarify many points and coordinate the next steps among various stakeholders.

Source: http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/11/19/defa-resumes-woard-appointed/