Cyprus, Israel leaders discuss LNG shipping deal

Cypriot and Israeli leaders have discussed cooperating to transport their newly discovered natural gas from an offshore Israeli field to Cyprus before shipping to the rest of Europe.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Cyprus President Demetris Christofias on Monday and discussed "forming a work team to examine the possibility of transporting gas from Leviathan to Cyprus and from there to the markets in Europe", Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Christofias later made a similar pledge of cooperation when, in his formal address at a dinner hosted by President Shimon Peres, he said that “we agreed that we have to work intensively for cooperation in this area of common interest, the energy area. So, very soon, I hope that we shall have the expected results for both countries.”
A similar interest was raised at the Cyprus-Israel business forum on Tuesday.
The Israeli gas would come from the Leviathan field, some 130 kms off the Israeli coast, which has estimated reserves of 16 trln cubic feet. Delek Group, an Israeli partner in a consortium with U.S.-based Noble Energy that will produce the gas, has proposed creating a facility in Cyprus to process it into liquefied natural gas.
The consortium in December said Leviathan was the world's biggest deepwater find of the past decade and that it expected to begin production there in about 2017.
Noble Energy has also said it is confident of similar discoveries in Plot 12 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone.
Christofias said that his visit concludes three years of close cooperation and signing of ten bilateral agreements in many fields, primarily in the areas of health, political, economic and energy relations.
Cooperation agreements and a memoranda of understanding were also signed between Cypriot and Israeli institutions.
Prof. Yosef Klafter, president of Tel Aviv University, signed a cooperation agreement with Prof. Costas N. Papanicolas, president of the Cyprus Institute, after which Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Chairman Saul Bronfeld and Managing Director Ester Levanon signed an MOU for cooperation and exchange of information with George Koufaris and Nondas Metaxas, chairman and managing director, respectively, of the Cyprus Stock Exchange.
“Nothing politically divides Cyprus from Israel,” Peres said. “We were never enemies, and we often cooperated in a friendly way.”
Peres expressed gratitude for the assistance that Cyprus gave to Israel during the recent raging fires in the Carmel. He was also appreciative of the stand Cyprus took on the flotillas trying to break through Israel’s naval blockade to Gaza. The Cyprus government banned ships sailing to Gaza from its shores.
Other areas of cooperation between Israel and Cyprus include medicine and agriculture.
Noting that Cyprus would take over the rotating presidency of the European Union from July to December 2012, Peres said he hoped that this would lead to increased cooperation not only on a bilateral level, but also within the EU, especially in the fields of science and technology.
Christofias said he was interested in further developing the multifaceted relationship between the two countries and in seeing Israel’s achievements firsthand.