Europe has been looking for more ways to wean itself off Russian energy and cut Moscow from revenues to fund its all-out war in Ukraine.
Some of the natural gas discovered in waters off the coast of Cyprus could reach European markets by 2027, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said Wednesday, which could help Europe lessen its dependency on Russian energy supply.
“Cyprus is part of the energy solutions for energy security in the eastern Mediterranean and like I said, it’s an important objective to align your interests with those of powerful states and to act as an alternative energy corridor for Europe,” Christodoulides said at an energy conference.
Cyprus current natural gas eserves are roughly equivalent to a decade’s worth of the hydrocarbon Russia would have supplied Europe with through the now-inoperable Nord Stream pipeline, enough to power more than 22 million homes each year.
The first quantity of natural gas that could be exported internationally will come from Cronos, Christodoulides said, which is one of the six natural gas deposits that is managed by a consortium made up by Italy's Eni and TotalEnergies of France.
Cronos is estimated to hold 3.1 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The gas from Cronos would then potentially be sent to a processing plant in the Eygptian port city of Damietta for liquefaction and export to Europe. The consortium is expected to make a final decision on moving forward with the project next year.
Natural gas from the Cronos deposit could reach Europe the quickest, as it can be connected to existing infrastructure, which carries gas from Egypt's Zor deposit, roughly 80 kilometres away, Cypriot Energy Minister George Pananastasiou said at the same conference.
Meanwhile, natural gas from another deposit in Cyprus, known as Aphrodite, could also be exported, Pananastasiou added, explaining that a floating processing plant would convert hydrocarbon into what he called “dry gas”.
The procssed gas would be routed to a facility near Egypt's Port Said and could either be used for domestic Egyptian consumption of liquefied for export to Europe.
Aphrodite is estimated to hold 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas. The deposit is operated by a consortium made up of Chevron, NewMed Energy and Shell.
