The commercial viability study of the EastMed pipeline is not proceeding normally as Turkey is "harassing the Nautical Geo vessel conducting the environmental surveys, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides told the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, which discussed recent developments on the EastMed pipeline and the geopolitical importance and external dimension of the EuroAsia Interconnector project through which the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnection is taking place.
At the same time, he said that Cyprus' stance "on the need to wait for environmental sustainability has not changed, due to the new development resulting from the war in Ukraine", while he said that "we are also looking for other solutions", such as the immediate solution for the extraction of natural gas from the fields of Israel, Egypt and Cyprus (confirmed Aphrodite field).
Mr. Kasoulides also said that Turkey has said with its "toxic rhetoric" that the new drilling rig it has acquired will remain in the Eastern Mediterranean and "we can certainly expect that when it is ready to come to harass either by proceeding to drill in what it considers its own continental shelf plots 4, 5, 6 or proceeding to drill in the south of the Republic of Cyprus within the plots licensed to Eni and Total, in particular".
"It will be much worse for Turkey," he stressed.
He added that a significant part of the research conducted by the Nautical Geo is where Turkey claims the sea as an extension of its own continental shelf and "harasses the Nautical Geo."
He said that the developer of the project should know the depth and various other criteria he is setting in terms of cost and added that the cost, although it may have been said to be high, "this will be finalized when all the data is in front of us."
He also said that it has been said that the Poseidon company, which comes from the Italian company Edison, which lately is French-owned and Italian-managed, wants to change the route of the EastMed pipeline and it "wants to come over the border of the EEZ of Egypt and the Republic of Cyprus and proceed to go to Crete, bypassing the areas of Turkey's range to harass."
"The Cypriot government has not given its consent to the change of route of the pipeline," adding that "we still have our reservations if the change of route does not result in bypassing us."
He explained that the change of route is on the border where the Cypriot EEZ ends and the Egyptian EEZ begins and goes south of Crete.
He also said that "so far no investor has shown interest" in the project and "this is a bad development in terms of sustainability".
The Foreign Minister said that "we are not left with our hands tied in terms of the need to realize that the gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean could contribute to the supply of natural gas to Europe, which is currently in dire need."
Stating that investment projects should be divided into immediate and medium or long-term solutions, Mr. Kasoulides said that the EastMed pipeline "cannot be placed in the category of immediate solutions."
"If the study finds the project viable, then the EU will probably be interested in taking part in financing it," he said. Kasoulides said that Cyprus' position has also not changed "the need to look for other solutions" and added that an immediate solution would be the extraction of natural gas from the fields of Israel, Egypt and Cyprus (confirmed Aphrodite field).
The Foreign Minister said that in relation to Cyprus' fields that Glafkos is not ready yet, while for Kalypso, where the first well was drilled, the size of the field has not been definitively determined.
Regarding the Kronos field, Kasoulides said that the Italian company Eni is preparing for the first drilling and if it comes out positive then a second drilling will follow.
"The hope is that if all these fields that are in close proximity to each other can be considered as consolidated and then commercially they will be much more viable and ready to be exploited," he said.
He added that if the pipeline is not viable none of the three states can bear the costs because the cost exceeds the capacity of their budgets.
He also said that the attitude of other European countries has not changed towards the pipeline, adding that "they will be happy and applaud when we can contribute but at the moment they are keeping a cautious attitude waiting for the viability study."
He also said that there is also a way of transporting the gas by tankers on existing infrastructure facilities located mainly in Egypt, adding that "we are looking at various other alternative solutions" in case the pipeline proves to be unviable.
"The Cypriot government has not yet reached a position on this (substitute solutions)," he noted.
Aphrodite
Regarding the Ishai field in Israel's EEZ, which borders the Aphrodite field in Cyprus, Mr. Kasoulides said that "an agreement is pending between Aphrodite and Ishai, which is a small deposit and "this disagreement has been going on for years."
He said that repeated attempts were made between the governments of Israel and Cyprus to no avail "because the owner of this deposit and very influential to Israel insists on 10% "instead of according to our calculations that it is 2% of the total of Aphrodite plus Ishai."
He said that the two Governments reached an agreement to instruct the companies operating the two deposits to work it out between them and if they do not find it within a certain period of time, the matter will be referred to arbitration.
"They did not get along and the owner of Ishai because he knows that he can influence will continue to influence," he said, adding that the main owner of Ishai does not accept arbitration.
Kasoulides expressed his own view on the issue which he said will be considered whether it is in his interest or not.
Specifically, he said that Ishai with this small percentage has no prohibitive right to proceed with the development of Aphrodite and added that "we can proceed with the project" and go to the international court and whatever compensation the court approves "we will be ready to accept."
Euro-Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF)
Mr. Kasoulides said that the Cypriot government is planning a high-level meeting on the Euro-Mediterranean Gas Facility (EMGF) on 14 October 2022 with the participation of the European Commissioner for Energy, adding that the meeting coincides with the ceremony for the onshore station from which the EuroAsia electricity supply will start going to Egypt.
He also referred to the 3+1 mechanism where the Foreign Ministers of Israel, Greece and Cyprus and the US Secretary of State participated via teleconference, adding that energy issues, cyber security and energy infrastructure were discussed.
In addition, he referred to Turkey's efforts to persuade Israel to have a pipeline passing through the Cypriot EEZ and going to Turkey, adding that the Israeli Foreign Minister told him that Israel has no such plans to have a pipeline from Israel to Turkey.
Kasoulides said that Mr. Lapid when he was in Egypt called him again to inform him of the meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister and asked him to improve relations between the two countries recognizing Israel's strategic relationship with Greece and Cyprus.
Electric interconnection between Greece, Cyprus, Israel (EuroAsia interconnector)
Moreover, Kasoulides mentioned that the electric interconnection is another environmentally friendly solution "because it answers the philosophy that you use natural gas that exists in the region to produce electricity".
"The advantage of the electrical interconnection is that it can work both ways", both from the Cyprus region to Greece and Europe and vice versa, he added.
He also referred to the EuroAfrica interconnector that will come from Egypt initially using natural gas from Egypt as fuel and will connect in Crete.
He said that for EuroAfrica there is also an agreement with Greece to go a cable "from Egypt directly to Attica going from the west side of Cyprus completely bypassing the disputed areas for which Turkey claims without any basis in the law of the sea and international law that they are its continental shelf."
"The project that is mature and ready to start by 2024 at the latest is the EuroAsia interconnector because the project operator has secured funding of €658 million," he added.
MPs' statements
In a statement after the session, DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou said the exploitation of Aphrodite has been delayed for many years and called on the government "to reach an agreement for the co-development of Aphrodite which is adjacent to Leviathan".
He said the decision must be taken at both the company and state levels, adding that we have had the statement recently that if the companies do not agree, the states will intervene to solve the problem that has held Aphrodite hostage since 2011.
Erotokritou said that the Aphrodite field should be brought quickly with a pipeline to Egypt where it can be liquefied and sold either for Egyptian needs or exported, adding that "if the government does not move quickly on the co-development agreement, we will miss the train."
He also referred to the absence of the Republic of Cyprus in the recent EU agreement with Israel and Egypt.
ELAM President Christos Christou said that "we must as soon as possible, either through the EastMed process or through the alternative proposals presented by the Government, finally proceed to the exploitation of the hydrocarbons located in the EEZ of Cyprus".
He also said that according to information from the Foreign Ministry, a process with European funding concerning research on the viability of the EastMed pipeline is being obstructed by Turkey and added that the questions that arise are "what do we do as the Republic of Cyprus to denounce this fact to seek the assistance of other European countries" and "how does the EU react when it sees a country implementing an expansionist and revisionist policy at the expense of a process that it has approved and funded".
Source: CNA
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