‘Mediterranean gas is a game-changer’

CYPRIOT natural gas and investment opportunities will be feature prominently in the upcoming Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).

This year, the OTC takes place in Houston, Texas from 2 to 5 May. Leading energy analyst Michael Economides, of the University of Houston, will be a keynote speaker at the forum, which is described as the largest annual gathering of the oil and gas industry.

Among other things, the OTC will be focusing on Mediterranean gas potential, of which Israeli and Cypriot prospects are a big part, Economides told the Mail yesterday.

Having seen the data, Economides said, he believes the Cyprus’ plot 12 is likely “better” than Israel’s Leviathan field, whose reserves of natural gas are estimated at 16 trillion cubic feet.

US firm Noble Energy is set to begin drilling at plot 12, off the island’s southern coast, before the end of the year.

The OTC schedule includes three special events, or breakfasts, one of which will discuss Cyprus. The other two will discuss Malaysian oil and the Gulf of Mexico pollution.

Economides said he had initially planned to dedicate his entire presentation to the Cypriot prospects, but had to revise after recent developments in Libya and the rethinking of the use of nuclear energy due to the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima power plant.

He will still be talking about Cyprus and Israel, however: “The whole Mediterranean gas is a game-changer, as Europe looks for alternative supplies of fuel,” said Economides.

Solon Kassinis, head of the Energy Service, has been invited to speak at the breakfast on Cyprus, as has Stelios Stylianou, general manager of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus.

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.