Cyprus Mail 9 December 2019 - article by Evie Andreou
Israel will not consent to the development of Cyprus’ Aphrodite offshore natural gas field until the dispute over the border with Israel’s Yishai gas field is settled, reports said.
According to Israeli business news portal Globes, Israel’s Energy Ministry director general Udi Adiri told consortium Shell, Noble Energy and Delek Drilling they cannot develop the Cypriot reservoir until the border dispute with Israel’s Yishai licence is settled.
The Cypriot government last month granted the three companies that own the Aphrodite concession, the first hydrocarbon exploitation licence with a view to piping gas to Egypt and export it in the form of LNG. The licence, granted to the Noble Energy, Shell, and Delek consortium is for 25 years.
But Adiri reportedly told Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu, Noble Energy SVP Keith Elliot and Shell East Med GM Chris Breeze, that the state of Israel “has not relinquished its share of the Aphrodite-Yishai natural gas reservoir and has no intention of doing so.”
In his letter, Adiri points out that the Aphrodite-Yishai field is a cross-border natural gas reservoir, and as such Israel and Cyprus have held several years of negotiations for the purpose of reaching a bilateral agreement regarding its exploitation.
One of the options raised for consideration was the possibility of initiating direct negotiations between the licensees of both countries, subject to approval by the two states, he reportedly said.
“However, up to this point, the two states have not concluded the necessary agreement that would facilitate the fair exploitation and development of the field, for the benefit of all the involved parties,” he said according to Globes.
Adiri told the three company executives that Israel’s position is that the development and exploitation of the Aphrodite-Yishai field by the licensees of both states must not commence prior to reaching an agreement between the government of Israel and Cyprus.
The letter, according to Globes, was sent last month following comments by Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz, who holds a stake in the Yishai licence, that the Israeli government was not doing enough to protect the rights of the licence. Steinmetz and his partners claim that the gas in the Yishai license could be worth as much as NIS 3 billion (€780.5m)
Cyprus’ Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis ssid last month after the agreement with the consortium was signed that talks were ongoing with Tel Aviv, but that their outcome would not affect the reserve’s development.
