After Big Energy Find, Greece-Egypt-Cyprus Target Mediterranean Boundaries

At a meeting in Athens on December 9, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades issued a joint statement saying they would speed up talks to resolve "outstanding issues” on delineating their maritime zones.

Tsipras told a joint press conference following the meeting that the three leaders held significant discussions on the energy matters that concern the region. Namely, Italian ENI’s discovery of the giant Zohr oil field off Egypt and the Aphrodite gas field, located just over 160 kilometres from Limassol. Cyprus and Greece are also hoping to exploit Mediterranean offshore gas and oil reserves.

The three leaders said they hoped that their countries could cooperate on gas transportation to European markets.

"The discovery of significant hydrocarbon reserves in the east Mediterranean and at Zohr, can and must be a catalyst for wider regional cooperation,” Anastasiades said.

The three leaders set up a joint committee to work on tourism, investment and energy projects. They will explore the potential for new pipelines in the region depending on the level of gas reserves found in the eastern Mediterranean, Tsipras said.

The next summit will take place in Cairo in 2016."We aim to have visible and tangible results through the joint projects,” el-Sissi said.

Cyprus, which is ethnically split between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations after a Turkish invasion in 1974, defined its economic zone in 2004 and since then its maritime boundaries with Egypt and Israel.

Defining sea borders was not aimed at excluding third countries, Tsipras said, without naming Turkey with which all three countries have tense relations.

Anastasiades, who is trying to negotiate Cyprus settlement, said natural resources "should be a chance for cooperation and not confrontation” in the region. "Our aim is not to exclude anyone,” he said. "Our cooperation is not against anyone. Our energy sources can suffice for the needs of many Europeans and other neighbours.”

In another energy regional development, the Egyptian government froze negotiations between companies to import gas from Israeli fields or grant import approvals until the legal position of the arbitration ruling against Egypt and the results of its appeal are clear. Greek industry sources told New Europe that the recent court case between Cairo and Tel Aviv might prompt Israel to export its hydrocarbons to Europe via Greece rather than use Egypt’s LNG facilities.

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and the Holding Company for Natural Gas (EGAS) announced the arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Geneva in the conflict between the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG) and Israel Electric Corporation (IEC). The ruling imposes compensation on EGPC and EGAS worth $288 million, out of the $1.5 billion demanded by EMG, which represents 19.2% of the total compensation demanded.