Energy Minister says 2027 crucial towards seeing first Cypriot natural gas transported

Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry George Papanastasiou has said that 2027 will be a crucial year towards "seeing the first Cyprus natural gas at the surface of the sea being transported to its destinations."

Speaking after a meeting he held with trade union SEK on 30 January, the Minister recalled that President Nikos Christodoulides on 29 January had said that he will visit Egypt to demonstrate the importance of the agreement with this neighbouring country.

Papanastasiou said that the fact that some agreements will be signed which will commercialise the natural gas, is "an important development".

He added that until today, we had been talking about drills for reserves while we have not yet discussed the next stage, which is the most significant one, and concerns its export to the markets.

“At the moment, agreements are being signed on how to bring it to the markets, which is why it is important to have this agreement signed,” he explained, adding that this “concerns the host country, which is Egypt, it concerns the contractors, which are the companies that invested in these deposits, and it also concerns the Republic of Cyprus, which is interested in bringing its natural gas to the markets.”

Meanwhile, General Secretary of the SEK Union, Andreas Matsas, said that the signing of this agreement also concerns the European Union in its effort to become energy independent.

The Minister of Energy said that everything is linked to accuracy, adding that whatever “income this place has, from any new sources of income, whether they are called investments or natural gas, when a good or a natural resource is put up for sale, it will eventually return to the economy of the country.”

(Source: CNA)