Cyprus and Israel sign additional natgas info deal

Cyprus and Israeli officials have signed an additional agreement for the exchange and protection of confidential information with respect to hydrocarbons discoveries in two offshore plots where exploration efforts are already underway.

The new agreement for the exchange of data in Block 12 in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and in the adjacent Block Ishai in Israel’s EEZ, was signed in Nicosia by the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Tasos Tzionis and the Ambassador of Israel in Cyprus, Michael Harari.
Negotiations which led to the signing of this agreement were held between the negotiating teams of the two sides from November 2013 until January this year so that confidential information will be exchanged for the purpose of assisting each government in forming an opinion on the extent of hydrocarbons discovered in each of the aforementioned specific blocks.
Block 12 is operated by Noble Energy of the U.S., with its two Israeli junior partners, Delek and Avner, who are all joint venture partners in Israel’s nearby Leviathan gasfield, considered one of the biggest in the eastern Mediterranean.
Cyprus has fully delineated its EEZ with Egypt in the south and Israel to the east, with a similar agreement pending from Lebanon, where the licensing process for exploration companies has been postponed, but is a priority of the newly established administration in Beirut.

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