Government is considering opening up natural gas market

07:02 - 29 August 2024

Current Affairs

The government is looking at the possibility of opening Cyprus’ natural gas market, which would allow anyone to import natural gas.

In fact, the Energy Ministry has already sent a letter to the energy regulator (CERA) asking it to scope the possibility.

The news was revealed by Energy Minister George Papanastasiou during a House Energy Committee discussion of the terminated contract for the Vassiliko natural gas terminal.

It started with a comment by DISY MP Averof Neophytou: “We need to take some serious decisions in this country. We have the EAC (electricity authority); it needs to do what it needs to do to bring natural gas. And we have the private sector, they need to take a risk. We need to open up the market.”

Responding, Papanastasiou admitted that this was something the ministry was in favour of.

And CERA’ president Andreas Poullikas revealed that the authority has already received a letter from the ministry, sent a few days ago, asking it to explore the possibility of abolishing the emerging market and see what regulatory action is required to create a natural gas market with numerous natural gas suppliers. “We are in the process of examining this,” Poullikas confirmed.

Meanwhile, it was mentioned during the session that Germany build four or five natural gas terminals in record time when Russia cut off its NG supply. This, MPs said, was achieved by voting through a special law that assigned the construction of the terminals to private contractors “as a matter of urgency”.

(Source: INBusinessNews)

Government is considering opening up natural gas market

News Feed

Read More