Cypriot gas will not go to Europe: the competitor wants all

All the gas from the largest Cyprus offshore field will go to Egypt, which has again turned from an exporter into an importer of fuel.

"NewMed Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding on the sale of 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Egypt from the Cyprus offshore gas field Aphrodite," writes the Israeli The Globe.

Thus in Egypt will sell all the reserves of the field. Among other project participants are the American Chevron and the Dutch-British Shell.

"The agreement is valid for 15 years or until the end of commercial production from the field, whichever comes first. In addition, the partners have the right to extend the agreement for another 5 years," NewMed Energy, which is owned by both Israeli owners and a company from the UAE, said.

It is planned that the contract will be with a "take or pay" condition, which implies mandatory gas extraction or full payment, regardless of the volumes consumed. At the same time, the price will be tied to Brent oil quotes.

The field is located near the economic zone of Israel, from the fields of which gas is already being exported to Egypt. Earlier, a project was considered under which Israeli and Cypriot gas would be supplied to Europe via a gas pipeline, but at those prices it was considered unprofitable.

Aphrodite will be the first deposit in Cyprus to be put into operation.

Egypt itself has again turned from an exporter into an importer of gas. The Italian Eni discovered and equipped the giant Zohr deposit in the Egyptian zone of the Mediterranean Sea, but seawater got into productive layers and production dropped sharply. This has already forced the Egyptian authorities to organize LNG terminals to provide the country with sufficient volumes of gas.