Gas pipeline to Egypt now being looked at

By Elias Hazou
Nicosia and Cairo agreed on Tuesday to speed up talks for exporting Cypriot gas to Egypt as the island appeared to switch track from onshore LNG to pipelines.
Egypt can receive as much gas quantities as Cyprus can export, Egypt’s petroleum minister Sherif Ismail told reporters in Nicosia.
Τhe gas could also be processed so that it can be exported to other countries, he added.
“We are open for any discussions, ready to discuss all options… the pipeline will be direct to Egypt, we have huge LNG market there,” Ismail said.
Responding to a follow-up question, the Egyptian official clarified that the two sides are discussing the possibility of Cypriot gas going to Egypt for domestic use as well as for LNG export.
His comments came soon after talks with his Cypriot counterpart, energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis, who later met separately with a Greek delegation under Greece’s energy minister Yiannis Maniatis. Tuesday’s talks wrapped up with a three-way meeting of the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.
The talks are designed to lay the groundwork for regional energy cooperation among the three Mediterranean nations, and they follow a summit of the three nations’ heads of state in Cairo earlier this month.
No letters of intent were signed, but Cyprus and Egypt said their discussions would be picking up pace.
In a joint statement after their meeting, Ismail and Lakkotrypis said they agreed to “build on the emerging momentum by enhancing and deepening the cooperation between the two governments in the hydrocarbons sector to their mutual benefit. In this context, they agreed to expedite discussions on exporting Cypriot natural gas to Egypt.”
Lakkotrypis was even more explicit, saying the focus was on exporting Cypriot gas via pipeline to existing infrastructures in Egypt – the LNG facilities at Idku and Damietta, which are currently operating well below capacity.
The gas concerned the reserves discovered at the Aphrodite field, in offshore block 12, operated by US outfit Noble Energy.
The minister said moreover the two governments have decided to initiate a technical study weighing the various export options for Cypriot gas; its findings should be available in about two months.
“Of course there are several technical and commercial issues that need to be addressed, and that is why we have set this process in motion,” he said.
“It appears that the best way [for exporting gas] would be via a direct pipeline between Cyprus and Egypt.”
Earlier this month, during an energy meet in Nicosia, Noble Energy said it was now looking at regional pipelines as its top option for developing its Cypriot gas finds.
And last month the state-owned Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company (CHC) held talks with BG Egypt to discuss possible export of Cyprus’ natural gas to the company’s LNG facilities in Idku.
Meanwhile following separate but parallel talks between the Cypriot and Greek delegations, Greek energy minister Maniatis said they discussed the prospect of the East Med pipeline, connecting Israeli and Cypriot gas reserves to continental Europe via Crete and mainland Greece.
“This corridor… may constitute, together with an LNG plant, a new source of [energy] supply to the European Union,” Maniatis said.
In a joint declaration, the energy ministers of the three nations noted that they have agreed “to establish a framework for tripartite consultations, in order to facilitate dialogue and advance trilateral co-operation between them in the field of hydrocarbons for the benefit of their countries and of the wider region.”
According to the statement, in a bid to attract investment in hydrocarbons, the ministers identified five areas of trilateral and broader regional cooperation: environmental standards in offshore hydrocarbons operations; methods of ensuring safety in offshore hydrocarbons operations; energy infrastructure; research and development in the hydrocarbons sector; and institutional expertise and capacity building.

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