Elharrar vows involvement if Israel-Cyprus gas field dispute unresolved - THE JERUSALEM POST

FEBRUARY 6, 2022 17:15

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.

Israel blocking Aphrodite gas field development - GLOBES

8 Dec, 2019 18:23
Amiram Barkat

Energy Ministry director general Udi Adiri has told Shell, Noble Energy and Delek Drilling they cannot develop the Cypriot reservoir until the border dispute with Israel's Yishai license is settled.

Israel is opposed to the development of Cyprus's Aphrodite offshore natural gas field until the dispute over the border with Israel's Yishai gas field is settled, Ministry of Energy director general Udi Adiri has made clear in a letter sent to the reservoir's rights owners Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L), Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) and Shell.

Adiri wrote to Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu, Noble Energy SVP Keith Elliot and Shell East Med GM Chris Breeze, "I wish to advise you that the State of Israel has not relinquished its share of the Aphrodite-Yishai natural gas reservoir, and has no intention of doing so."

Israel and Cyprus disagree over Aphrodite Gas Field - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

MAY 20, 2018, 1:04 AM

A disagreement over the ownership rights to the Aphrodite natural gas field in Cyprus is delaying billion-dollar plans to turn the eastern Mediterranean area into a larger energy hub. Aphrodite is located along the edge of Cyprus’ economic waters. One of its tips stretches across Cyprus’ border into Israel’s maritime zone. According to a recent estimate in Israel, there are as much as 10 billion cubic meters of gas worth close to $1.5 billion at stake. However, this amount is less than 10% of Aphrodite’s total reserves. Israel has said that it will not give up on this gas and that companies operating on the Israeli side are ready for legal action if Aphrodite is developed without them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz have flown to Cyprus to discuss plans to join the two countries’ electricity grids and build a pipeline to supply Mainland Europe with their gas fields. Energy Minister Steinitz has said that he was optimistic that the dispute will be solved within six months and that the governments have asked the companies to reach an agreement among themselves on how much gas is located on each side’s economic waters. If the dispute is not resolved within a specified period, they will turn to an international expert, not an arbitrator. Cyprus’ Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis has suggested a similar course of action.

Israel's 5% Claim on Gas in Cypriot Field Causes Dispute With Nicosia - HAARETZ

Nicos Anastasiades & Benjamin Netanyahu

May 11, 2018 5:42 AM
Ora Coren 

If Israel and Cyprus don’t reach an understanding within a few months, they will hire an international expert to propose a solution based on the two reservoirs’ estimated reserves

Energy Ministry Yuval Steinitz told Cypriot leaders Tuesday that Israel is demanding 5% or more of the production from the joint Aphrodite-Yishai natural- gas field in disputed Mediterranean waters, sources told TheMarker.

Steinitz, who attended the meeting in Nicosia with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said afterward in public that the dispute could be settled within six months but did not elaborate on Israel’s position.

“The professional opinion of the [Israeli] government is that at least 5% of the reservoir is Israeli,” said an Israeli official who asked not to be named. “The dispute with the Cypriots is about how the Israeli share will be guaranteed because it’s the Cypriots who will be developing the field.”

Ishai license holders warn on gas extraction from Aphrodite - GLOBES

13 Mar, 2018 10:32
Sonia Gorodeisky

Israel Opportunity chairman Rony Halman: Further development of the Aphrodite reservoir that ignores Israel's rights will represent a dangerous precedent.

The owners of the rights in the Ishai license, a continuation of the Cypriot Aphrodite gas reservoir on the Israeli side of the boundary between the two countries' economic zones, wrote to Petroleum Commissioner Yosi Wurzburger and to Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz claiming that the extraction of gas on the Cypriot side would necessarily lead to the extraction of gas from Ishai as well. The approach to the ministry follows reports that Cyprus is in negotiations with Egypt on an agreement for the export of gas from Aphrodite. In addition, energy giant Shell is reported to be in talks in buying gas from the Aphrodite and Leviathan reservoirs.