A ministerial panel discussed Friday the latest progress and prospects for the Eastern Mediterranean to become the focus of developments regarding energy security and energy transition, during the Eastern Mediterranean Natural Gas Forum (EMGF) Conference, which takes place in Nicosia.
Energy Ministers from Cyprus, Greece, Egypt and Jordan participated in the panel discussion, along with the EMGF Secretary General and the EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson who pointed out the interest of Europe to EMGF to wean itself off Russian natural gas.
Secretary General of EMGF Osama Mobarez said that the key of the success of the Forum in the past four years was that it has managed to bring together all the stakeholders such as states and companies of the private sector, since as he mentioned the challenges are big.
Regarding how the Eastern Mediterranean could contribute to Europe’s supply, the EMGF SG sent the message that “this may be challenging but not impossible”. He stressed the need to find the appropriate funds from the states and the EU to encourage companies to invest in that direction.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, of Egypt Tarek El – Molla, said that Egypt’s infrastructure was the fastest way to help EU energy security since there are ready-made solutions with pipelines, infrastructure and infrastructure for liquefied natural gas (LNG), but there was also good cooperation with countries in the region.
He also referred to the signing of an MOU with the EU so that more natural gas from Israel reaches Egypt and is then exported to Europe, saying that this process is accelerating in the coming months.
El – Molla also expressed the hope that there will be more natural gas discoveries from Cyprus soon and that their exploitation processes will be accelerated by using the infrastructure in Egypt. He added that the recent demarcation agreement between Lebanon and Israel will help to see more quantities of natural gas soon, which as he said will somehow end up in Egypt. He added that there is also cooperation with the Palestinians to develop natural gas fields.
He added that to speed up all these processes, more funds are needed under a “safe umbrella”, such us international organizations.
On his part Minister of Environment and Energy of Greece, Kostas Skrekas, referred to the country’s ambitious goals for the green transition, as well as the important infrastructures that the country is promoting. As he said, with the completion of all the energy infrastructures being promoted, Greece will become the main entrance gate of electricity and LNG for the Balkans.
The Minister focused on the increased penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in Greece in the last years, the increase in the interconnections with Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania and Italy as well as the prospects created with Eurasia Interconnector that will connect electrical grids of Greece, Cyprus and Israel. He also referred to the LNG infrastructures that have been created in recent years in Greece or are under construction.
The Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry of Cyprus, Natasa Pilides, referred to the importance of exploiting natural gas discoveries found in the Cypriot EEZ, both for the benefit of Cyprus and to help the EU’s energy supply. She noted that she had on Thursday very fruitful meetings with the European Energy Commissioner on that, while also noting the role that EMGF could play in creating the appropriate synergies to accomplish that goal.
Pointing out the challenges in the energy sector for Cyprus, as a small isolated system, she mentioned that today Cyprus will celebrate the start of the construction work of the EuroAsia Interconnector project. which she described as a great achievement.
Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Al-Kharabsheh said that in Jordan there has always been an effort to increase domestic energy sources with RES currently contributing 29% to the energy mix with a target to increase up to 50%.
He also referred to the efforts to upgrade the system so that it can respond to the use of more RES. At the same time, he said that Jordan is trying to double connections with neighbouring countries and also to create a network with Europe.
Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson referred to the important steps the EU is taking to wean itself off Russian natural gas and fossil fuels, not only for itself, but also for its partners such as Ukraine and Moldova, both in the short and long term.
She stressed the need to find alternative routes for natural gas and noted that this is why the EU has a special interest in the Eastern Mediterranean.
She noted at the same time that the EU is in the very final stages of the discussion to set higher environmental targets until 2030.
Source: Cyprus News Agency