POLITICIANS, media commentators and technocrats have been letting their imagination run wild when discussing the country’s natural gas options. Every day they seem to come up with a new take on the debate – a missed opportunity, a more beneficial alternative, a violation of tenders procedure, a government oversight, a lack of strategic thinking etc.
All that is achieved is total confusion among people who cannot know who speaks with authority and integrity, who is playing to the gallery, who is knowingly spreading misleading information and who is plainly ignorant. This is because very few of the main actors are using any form of documentation to back their claims, content to use the debate to score political points, regardless of whether they are making a useful contribution to our better understanding of the issue.
In recent days the debate has also taken a political dimension, as newspapers and politicians have been calling for co-operation with Israel, suggesting that this could pave the way for a strategic alliance with Israel a regional power, currently at odds with Turkey’s government. Israel discovered huge deposits of natural gas in fields that were adjacent to Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. At the weekend, The Times reported that an Israeli energy company had proposed to build a natural gas terminal in Cyprus where the natural gas would arrive by a pipeline, before being shipped to Western Europe.
This had added to the confusion, as the law voted in 2007, at the instigation of Electricity Authority union, stipulates that the Authority would have the exclusive right to supply the island with liquefied natural gas from its land terminal. The law greatly restricted our options, but this is not the only problem we are facing. When technocrats claim there are very large deposits of natural gas in the Cyprus sea, it does not mean we will use them. Cyprus’ needs are so small that extracting the gas would make no financial sense, without the government securing other markets, but how would we deliver the gas to other markets? Would we build pipe-lines?
Environment Commissioner, Charalambos Theopemptou hit the nail on the head when he told the Sunday Mail the following: “We need a comprehensive study on the energy challenges facing Cyprus. This would include renewable energy sources, alternative sources, onshore or offshore terminal for LNG, and the study should be published to let the public become informed.”
This study was never carried out because the EAC unions had decided that we should build a land terminal for LNG. No wonder there is so much confusion and the government is unable to defend its decision with any conviction. Yesterday, the government spokesman said no decision had been taken on the land terminal and that all options will be looked at. But what options will be explored when there has never been a comprehensive, in-depth study on our energy options? Surely there must be a proper study before decisions that would cost us billions are taken.
