Nicosia: The agreements that we are going to sign on February 17th are among the most important agreements that the Republic of Cyprus has signed and concern the exploitation of the specific natural gas fields, Minister of Energy, Trade and Commerce George Papanastasiou said on Saturday, during a tour with Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi and Chevron’s Vice President for International Exploration and Production, Frank Cassulo, in Old Nicosia.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Egyptian Minister described the signing of the bilateral agreements on 17 February as a very important milestone and expressed his country’s readiness to move to the next level in order to “unlock the potential of the Republic of Cyprus for the benefit of all, leveraging Egypt’s infrastructure.”
Asked to comment on the tour and the issues that may be raised during it, the Energy Minister said that in addition to the business relationship, there are also human relations, “which we are strengthening because they help in the business part.”
“The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum has been here since yesterday. We had the contacts with the ministry itself, with the President of the Republic. We have reached some agreements which will be signed, as the President of the Republic announced yesterday, on February 17th, and will essentially concern the exploitation of the Kronos field,” he said.
He added that there will be a second agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding, which will concern the “Aphrodite” field, specifying that the Memorandum of Understanding is something different as it is the pre-contract for the so-called host country agreement.
“The Minister of Petroleum is here, representing his country, and because the cooperation is between two countries, one of which has the natural wealth and the other has the infrastructure, we believe that it was the most appropriate way to proceed with the exploitation of the deposits, at least of these two,” he said, adding that the next milestone is February 17.
Asked whether in the same context there might be an occasion for further actions at the bilateral and multilateral level, in terms of exploitation of other deposits and the energy interconnection of the region, the Energy Minister said that it is a fact that infrastructure is an important part of the exploitation of deposits, especially when the deposits are located in deep seas.
He added that Egypt happens to be a neighbouring, friendly country, which has this infrastructure, which has the potential to provide solutions for the Cypriot deposits as well, “so this has been studied and this is what it is going to come down to.”
“This agreement or these agreements that we are going to sign on February 17 is one of the most important agreements that the Republic of Cyprus has signed and it is about the exploitation of these deposits and any other deposit that is discovered along the way. And of course, Egypt will be a possible destination, but again it depends on the quantities that any new discovery will include,” he concluded.
For his part, the Egyptian Minister expressed his belief in the bilateral partnership and collaboration for the benefit of the Republic of Cyprus, for the benefit of Egypt and for the benefit of the region and Europe.
‘It is really how we can work together to really unlock the sub-surface potential for the benefit of everyone, to be able to leverage existing infrastructure and to be able to unlock the natural wealth which exist in Cyprus, which we are very happy right to be able to promote and to help continued success,” he noted.
He added that the visit comes at a very important time since, as he pointed out, “if one looks at the collaboration at the highest level in both countries, the excellent relationship between President Christodoulides and President Sisi, the head of State Summit, which took place on January 8th, both countries have been building on the engagements that they started on a few months ago, on how they can work together to accelerate and how they can work in collaboration and partnership.’
‘Yesterday was a very important milestone, which was the invitation right for President Christodoulides to come to Egypt on the 17th of February and Egypt is very honoured of his acceptance to come and to witness the signing of two very important agreements for both our countries and for the region. Developments on the ‘Kronos’ front that we have all been working in partnership between governments and also with the partners, developing the assets themselves, are a very good sign of collaboration and a key milestone for the sector. Also, the collaboration on the ‘Aphrodite’ field is also very promising in terms of the MoU, he stressed in that regard.
‘It is a fantastic time. I am very grateful to Minister Papanastasiou for the friendship, the collaboration, and the partnership. Today is also a beautiful day, there is a saying that the stars are aligned, it is really how we can work together for the benefit of everyone”, he continued.
‘We look forward to welcoming President Christodoulides and Minister Papanastasiou in Egypt on the 17th of February, to really take this milestone to the next level and to really unlock the potential of the Republic of Cyprus to the benefit of everyone, leveraging Egypt’s infrastructure’, concluded Badawi.