Nicosia: President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, referred on Monday to the need to accelerate procedures for implementing what has been agreed with Egypt as regards the Aphrodite natural gas field, in a meeting at the Presidential Palace with Chevron’s Base Assets and Emerging Countries (BAEC) President, Javier la Rosa.
According to Cyprus News Agency, welcoming la Rosa, the President said ‘we value your presence in Cyprus. It’s a strong vote of confidence, not only for us, but also for Europe and the possibility of the region to be developed as an alternative energy route for Europe.’ He noted that there have been ‘a lot of developments in the energy aspect’ since their meeting in September in New York. The President also said that it was necessary to look into pending issues ‘as soon as possible’, to start using the Aphrodite gas reserve. ‘We need to speed up our efforts as soon as possible,’ he added.
La Rosa is to visit Egypt after Cyprus. Cyprus and Egypt signed in February 2025 an Agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Republic’s EEZ, aiming to bolster the exploitation of natural gas deposits. They include a Host Government Agreement for the development of hydrocarbons in Block 6 – including those extracted from Cronos block under license to a consortium of Italy’s Eni and France’s Total – and a Memorandum of Understanding between Cyprus, Egypt, and the license holders (Chevron Cyprus Limited, NewMed Energy LP, and BG Cyprus Limited) for the development of the Aphrodite gas field.