Cyprus sees â€œarray of possibilities in oil & gasâ€ with Egypt

Cyprus Energy, Trade and Tourism Minister Georgos Lakkotrypis met with his Egyptian counterpart in Nicosia on Friday with whom he discussed cooperation in the oil and gas sectors, assistance on energy infrastructure projects and setting up a joint team to determine the boundaries of the maritime exclusive economic zone between the two countries.
The joint committee will have its first meeting in Cairo within a month, the minister said.
Lakkotrypis posted on Twitter that he had a “meeting with the Hon. Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Sherif Ismail. An array of possibilities in O&G is opening up.”
Ismail said the meeting was “productive” and focused on the setting up of the joint committee of technocrats which will look into the potential cooperation on infrastructure projects, exchange of information and knowhow.
The Cypriot minister said the close relations between the two countries were enhanced with the visit to Cairo in December by President Nicos Anastasiades.
He added at that during the meeting in Nicosia “we discussed renewable sources of energy and in particular cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector and the whole chain of related issues.”
Egypt, he said, has vast experience in this area and this is an experience that we too want to acquire. “Through close cooperation with Egypt we are sure we will make it.”
Lakkotrypis said that a technical committee will be set up to discuss cooperation on both sides of the ‘median line’ that separates each EEZ and to share information of each others’ activities, such as which companies have been licensed or are bidding, reserve findings and the commencement of exploration or drilling work.
“We are also looking at how we can better utilise our natural resources together with Egypt. We have some questions that need to be answered very soon,” the minister said.
He added that for the time Egypt would not be sending any natural gas to the upcoming onshore LNG plant at Vasiliko to make the Cyprus operations more viable, as Egypt needs all its natgas supplies and has non to spare. However, the joint committee will also explore the possibility of Egypt maybe buying LNG from Cyprus gasfields.