Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Sherif Ismail said on November 25 that his country can buy as much natural gas as Cyprus can export. Ismail said he discussed with his Cypriot counterpart details of a framework agreement for the export of natural gas from the Aphrodite gas field off the southern coast of Cyprus to Egypt. The possibility of re-exporting liquefied Cypriot natural gas from Egypt is an option under consideration between the two countries, he said. “Egypt has a very huge natural gas infrastructure and can accommodate the production coming from Cyprus’ economic waters,” Ismail said. US-based Texas Energy has discovered a gas deposit estimated to contain 4.54 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and Italian-South Korean ENI-KOGAS consortium is about to announce results of an exploratory drill in an adjacent gas field. Cypriot Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said he agreed with the Egyptian minister that the best way to export the gas to Egypt is through a pipeline. “Discussions focus on current liquefaction infrastructure in Idku and Damietta on the Egyptian side,” Lakkotrypis said. The distance between Cyprus and Egypt is about 600 kilometres, but Egypt has existing pipes connecting its offshore gas fields with its liquefaction infrastructure. Lakkotrypis said that within two months they will have a feasibility study on all options available. Ismail said Egypt is currently producing around 5,000 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day. “We consume it all in the local market ... and we have a deficit approximately of about 700 million standard cubic feet that we will recover through liquefied natural gas imports,” he added. Their talks were part of a tripartite meeting with Greece’s Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Yiannis Maniatis aimed at advancing a trilateral cooperation agreement on energy forged when the leaders of the three countries met in Cairo on November 8.
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