Page 4 - DMEA Week 35 2022

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

(Image: Vallourec)
For Cypriot gas, the path to

Europe may run through Egypt

Establishing short subsea links with Egypt may be a faster and cheaper way to launch gas exports

from Cyprus than waiting for EastMed, which would be the world’s longest underwater pipeline

CYPRUS has known for more than a decade due to events in Ukraine.
that it possesses substantial offshore natural gas Under these circumstances, some observ-
WHAT: reserves. Between 2011 and 2019, international ers have suggested that the Cronos discovery
Cyprus, an EU member oil companies (IOCs) succeeded in finding three could help rebuild support within the EU for
state, has discovered sizeable fields – Aphrodite, Glaucus and Calypso the EastMed project, which envisioned the con-
more gas at a time when – that contain at least 15-20 trillion cubic feet struction of a subsea pipeline connecting Israel’s
the EU needs gas. (425bn cubic metres) of gas. And just this sum- offshore zone to Greece via Cypriot territorial
mer, Eni (Italy) and TotalEnergies (France) waters.
WHY: have announced the discovery of another field, The pipe was primarily designed to carry
The existing EastMed Cronos, that appears to hold another 2.5 trillion gas from Israel’s offshore Leviathan field to the
pipeline transportation cubic feet (70.8 bcm) of gas. Greek market – whence it could be piped to Italy
scheme has serious The find ought to be good news for the EU. (via a proposed new underwater link) and/or
drawbacks, including These gas reserves are located in the coastal the Balkans (via existing interconnectors), all of
long timelines and high
budgets. waters of an EU member state, and they have which have traditionally been reliant on Russian
come to light at a time when the EU is facing gas – at a rate of about 10 bcm per year. But it
WHAT NEXT: difficult questions about how exactly it will meet could also carry Cypriot gas, since it was to pass
Cyprus could follow energy demand during the upcoming heating through Cypriot waters.
Israel’s example and seek season. Indeed, now that the Cronos find has been
access to Egypt’s existing These questions are not easy to answer, given announced, there seems to be more reason than
gas infrastructure. that gas prices are very high and that Russia will ever to think about loading Cypriot gas into
be delivering significantly less fuel than usual such a pipeline.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 01•September•2022