STARTING today, the government is beginning an “intensive dialogue” with Noble Energy on how and when natural gas from Block 12 can be extracted and brought onshore, Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said yesterday.
The talks with the US company are expected to last two to three months, the minister said after a meeting with the board of directors of the electricity authority (EAC) and the chairman of the Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA).
“Through this dialogue all the matters relating to planning for the advent of natural gas are to be straightened out,” said Sylikiotis.
Conducting the talks with Noble on behalf of the government is a contact team comprising the permanent secretaries of the ministries of finance, commerce, the interior and agriculture, representatives from DEFA, and the group of experts appointed by the government.
The government wants to have a clearer picture on how soon the EAC can be supplied with natural gas from the offshore wells – and how much.
Sylikiotis said DEFA is already working on a blueprint for the distribution of natural gas domestically via onshore pipelines.
The government’s general planning involves harnessing all existing infrastructure – the power plants at Vassilikos, Moni and Dekeleia – for electricity production with natural gas.
Vassilikos is the proposed site for the receiving terminal for the natural gas piped from the wells.
Sylikiotis said power units processing natural gas would be installed at the Moni and Dekeleia stations as well, “in the medium to long term”.
The Vassilikos plant is already equipped with two combined-cycle units which can process natural gas, but the units are damaged and not expected to be back online before this summer.
“This is our primary goal: the supply of natural gas, via a pipeline, for the purposes of electricity production,” Sylikiotis said.
Asked how soon natural gas could be expected to produce electricity here, the minister said that depended on the EAC’s planning:
“We are talking about a timeline of five to eight years. It is not something that can be done right away.”
