By Con Charalambous
As a flurry of energy projects and promises draws many back to the East Med and has the region battling for the best deals, energy minister Yiorgos Papanastasiou noted the importance of American interest in killing off supply of Russian natural gas to Europe and looking into other sources.
'This puts the East Med right in the game', Papanastasiou told the Cyprus News Agency, extensively referring to the resurgence of the 3+1 format and discussions that took place last week during the 6th meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation, P-TEC), organised by the Atlantic Council.
The Energy minister said that deliberations focused on energy prospects and works in the region, particularly the natural gas vertical corridor of supply to Northern Europe, with Alexandroupoli being the entry point.
'The purpose is to essentially stop the supply of Russian gas to Europe and to this end, we discussed ideas but also a number of agreements were signed, connecting the supply chain and the vertical corridor, from the point of entry to its destination', Papanastasiou noted, adding that there was dialogue around the East Med deposits, with Israel welcoming the construction of a pipeline that connects the Israeli network to Cyprus.
Cyprus also put the issue of commercialising its own deposits, supplying LNG to the region through an Egyptian terminal.
'It was all about the Eastern Mediterranean and its connection with the US effort to stop any supply of Russian gas to Europe and replacing it with alternative sources,' Papanastasiou disclosed.
One such possible source is the American LNG derived from the region, 'but the Cyprus deposits can also become a supplementary quantity for the vertical corridor and Israel,' he stressed.
So essentially, he explained, the three countries involved in the availability of natural gas with Alexandroupoli as an entry point, are the United States, Cyprus and Israel, further referring to the importance of the ExxonMobil Ionian drilling deal.
'Most of the energy projects being promoted in the region, involve Cyprus and Greece', the Energy Minister said, responding to a question on the joint 3+1 commitments, as laid out in a statement last week.
He also stressed the significance of plans to create a regional energy centre that will monitor and promote projects. 'This is still under discussion', he added, with deliberations to continue in the 2nd trimester of 2026, possibly in Washington.
The Republic of Cyprus is way ahead of schedule in its own projects, Papanastasiou said, as the drilling has long taken place and with new confirmed deposits, exceeding those of Aphrodite and Kronos.
'Commercialisation deals have already been signed on Kronos and its set for LNG at Damieta, Egypt', he added, while technical processing is under way to create the infrastructure connecting Kronos with Zor, in the Egyptian EEZ.
He referred to Kronos as a cross border work with many challenges that are however manageable due to the proximity of infrastructure very near the area.