Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry George Papanastasiou told CNA on Friday that there is a quantity of natural gas in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus that has to be commercialised. The Minister was commenting on reports of a possible quantity of natural gas in the Pegasus and Glafkos gas fields, of around 8-9 trillion cubic feet (tcf) combined.

It is noted that Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis made relevant statements in New York, following a briefing by ExxonMobil to the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides.

Speaking to CNA, the Minister of Energy said that there is a large quantity and added that they are in consultation and expect ExxonMobil to submit a development and production plan to be approved by the Republic of Cyprus.

“They are currently making their operational considerations”, he noted adding that the quantity of 8 to 9 tcf concerns “gas in place”, as it is called in the scientific terminology, that is, what is inside the field.

Papanastasiou said that “we have already started” with the Kronos and Aphrodite gas fields that will go to Egypt, one for liquefaction, the other for a terminal in Egypt.

The Minister of Energy said that “Chevron has also made great progress” on the Aphrodite gas field, and is concluding the FEED study, while there is also progress regarding Kronos where Italian Eni and French TotalEnergies are involved, which are “conducting seabed research on the Egyptian side” to connect Kronos via an undersea pipeline to the Egyptian Zohr gas field.

Concluding, the Minister of Energy noted that the above are proceeding rapidly and that they are monitoring the issue on a weekly basis.