Cyprus, Greece decry Turkey-Libya maritime border deal - WASHINGTON POST / ASSOCIATED PRESS

November 29, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. GMT+2Menelaos Hadjicostis | AP 

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus and Greece have strongly criticized an agreement between Turkey and Libya’s U.N.-backed government to delineate the maritime boundaries between the two countries, describing it as a serious breach of international law that disregards the lawful rights of other eastern Mediterranean countries.

The Cypriot Foreign Ministry said Friday a Memorandum of Understanding the two countries signed has no legal validity and can’t undermine the rights of Cyprus or other coastal states.

It said Turkey’s “distortion” of international law doesn’t afford it any legal rights and demonstrates that Ankara is alone in its views.

Eni, Total join for another gas search license off Cyprus - THE WASHINGTON POST / ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 18 at 8:53 AM

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Energy companies Total of France and Italy’s Eni have teamed up to expand their search for natural gas off southern coast, signing a licensing agreement Wednesday.

Cypriot Energy Minister Georgios Lakkotrypis said the companies will have an equal share in a new block into which a gas deposit that Eni discovered in an adjacent block last year is believed to extend.

Lakkotrypis said Total also gains a 20-40% share in four of Eni’s concessions inside Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. Korea’s Kogas is also a partner with a 20% share in three of the four concessions.

With Wednesday’s signing, Eni and Total now hold exploration licenses for seven of Cyprus’ 13 blocks. ExxonMobil and a partnership between Texas-based Noble Energy, Dutch Shell and Israeli Delek hold licenses for one block each.

The two companies are expected to drill six wells in their blocks over the next two years.

Natural gas fields give Israel a regional political boost - THE WASHINGTON POST / ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 23 at 2:50 AM
Aron Heller

JERUSALEM — A decade after discovering natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast, Israel is starting to feel the geopolitical boost.

Its newfound riches have fostered economic bonds with its neighbors, tightening relations with Arab allies, and built new bridges in a historically hostile region — even without significant progress being made toward peace with the Palestinians.

Last week’s inclusion of Israel into the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum in Cairo — a consortium aiming to cut infrastructure costs and lower prices — marked the first time Arab countries accepted Israel into such a regional alliance, sparking excitement in the country that its long-held hope of finally also making “economic peace” with Egypt and Jordan was fast approaching.

“I think this is the most significant economic cooperation between Egypt and Israel since the signing of the peace treaty 40 years ago,” Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told The Associated Press during his visit. “The discovery of significant gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean has also political value because it brings all of us ... together to cooperate with each other.”

Cyprus urges Turkey to cooperate on energy, but peace first - THE WASHINGTON POST /ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Anastasiades, Republic of Cyprus

November 2, 2018
Menelaos Hadjicostis 

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus is ready to work with Turkey on exploiting the east Mediterranean’s potential oil and gas wealth, as long as the ethnically split island nation is reunified, the country’s president said Friday.

Big gas reserves have been found around Cyprus and the country, which is a member of the European Union, is already working with Egypt and Israel. Turkey says it’s entitled to its share of any potential gas reserves and has launched a search of its own. But Nicos Anastasiades insisted that the prerequisite for joining this regional energy cooperation will have to be the reunification of Cyprus, which has been split since 1974

Note: Formerly a 90% Christian area, the occupied northern part of Cyprus now comprises 100% of illegal Muslim Turkish settlers and the Turkish Cypriot minority; the colonization continues unabated.

“We continue to upgrade our energy cooperation with countries in the eastern Mediterranean and in Europe and certainly, I underscore this, with Turkey in the event of a Cyprus settlement,” Anastasiades told a conference Friday.

Greece, Egypt back Cyprus gas exploration - THE WASHINGTON POST / ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 10 at 12:55 PMDerek Gatopoulos and Menelaos Hadjicostis

ATHENS, Greece — The leaders of Greece and Egypt on Wednesday backed efforts by regional ally Cyprus to exploit off-shore gas deposits, despite strong objection from Turkey.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hosted a meeting Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on the island of Crete. The talks were the sixth meeting between the three leaders aimed at forming an energy-based alliance in the east Mediterranean.

U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil will search for natural gas off the coast of Cyprus by the end of the year, a senior executive said last week.

“We have clearly expressed our support for Cyprus in its efforts to capitalize on the sovereign rights deriving from International Law regarding (offshore deposits) and to make progress in their exploitation,” said Tsipras.

Cyprus: Eni committed to gas search despite Turkey’s dissent - THE WASHINGTON POST / ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 15 at 1:46 PM

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The Cyprus government says Italian company Eni is committed to carrying on its search for gas off the east Mediterranean island despite Turkey’s strong opposition.

A statement said Eni is “determined to fulfill its obligations” under its contracts with Cyprus to carry out exploratory drilling in six areas off Cyprus where it has been licensed do to so. The assurance came after Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides met Thursday with Eni Executive Vice President Lapo Pistelli in Rome.

The two men agreed on the significance of the eastern Mediterranean as an essential gas source for the region and Europe as well as on Cyprus’ potentially central role in those plans.

Last month, Turkish warships blocked a rig from reaching an area southeast of Cyprus where Eni was scheduled to drill.

Israel expects gas to flow from east Mediterranean to Europe - THE WASHINGTON POST

From left, Cyprus’ energy minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Greece’s Energy minister Giorgos Stathakis, Israel’s Energy minister Yuval Steinitz and Italian ambassador in Cyprus Andrea Cvallari  after the East Med Pipeline agreement signing at “Filoxenia” conference center in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017. 

By Menelaos Hadjicostis | AP December 5 at 9:24 AM

NICOSIA, Cyprus — A potential undersea pipeline carrying natural gas from deposits in the eastern Mediterranean to Europe is “very realistic” and could help secure the continent’s energy future, Israel’s energy minister said Tuesday.

Yuval Steinitz said that a study on the “strategic” EastMed Pipeline Project shows that the pipeline is feasible, even though it presents technical challenges due to the depths involved.