Oil and gas agreement with Lebanon

CYPRUS AND Lebanon yesterday signed an agreement on exclusive economic zones to facilitate future undersea oil and gas exploration following a year of negotiations.
The agreement was signed between Foreign Minister George Lillikas and Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport Mohammed al-Safadi in Beirut.

Lillikas returned to the island yesterday afternoon but made no statements due to the sudden death of Education Minister Pefkios Georgiades from a heart attack. Lillikas instead went straight to the Nicosia General Hospital. He had travelled to Beirut earlier in the day.
Lebanon is the second country Cyprus has reached a deal with on the exclusive economic zone. An agreement was signed with Egypt in 2005.

The government is in the process of reaching agreements with its all of its neighbours on the determination of exclusive economic zones before explorations can begin for possible deposits of oil and natural gas off the coast.

Previous studies have estimated that oil and natural gas reserves in the seas surrounding Cyprus amount to six to eight billion barrels, currently worth around $400 billion.
President Tassos Papadopoulos said on Tuesday that the cabinet had approved a legal framework that would secure the country’s interests and it was hoped that it will be approved by the House of Representatives shortly.

He said the area to be exploited would be divided into fields and tenders will be sought at an international level for the work that needed to be done.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.