Filenews 31 October 2025 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
The Greek company Energean has signed a Letter of Intent with the Cypriot PEC (Power Energy Cyprus), which belongs to the Cyfield group, for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Israel's EEZ to Vasilikos, for its use in electricity production.
The information about the signing of the Intention of Cooperation was confirmed to Phileleftheros by the CEO of PEC, Giorgos Chrysochos.
According to him, the cooperation between the two companies aims at the construction of a pipeline, at the expense of Energean, from the Karish field in the EEZ of Israel, where a floating FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) unit, owned by Energean, operates, for the production of natural gas from it and from other fields managed by the company and its transfer to the Israeli energy market.
Mr. Chrysochos told "F" that the intention to cooperate concerns the private PEC and its needs for electricity generation at its station under construction in Vasiliko, but the specifications of the pipeline allow the transport of additional quantities for any other producer interested in using natural gas.
He said that from the preliminary estimates there is optimism that the natural gas that will be transported through the pipeline to Vasiliko, if the project is implemented, will be available for electricity production at a price 30 to 40% cheaper than the price that the regasified natural gas that will be transported by LNG Carriers to the Vasilikos terminal could be available, when this is completed by ETYFA and put into use.
Energean and PEC estimate that the construction of the pipeline will take about 14 months from the day the works begin. However, it will be necessary to issue relevant permits for the laying of the pipeline, the export of gas from Israel and for the natural gas reception facilities in Vasiliko, which will obviously require additional time.
The emerging market
An additional obstacle, however, is the current legislation in Cyprus, following a derogation granted years ago by the EU, for the monopolistic import of natural gas by the state-owned DEFA (emerging market). Based on this legislation, the import of natural gas by Energean or PEC is not allowed, unless the Government and the Parliament consent to the amendment of the law or if DEFA cooperates with the two companies for the import of the fuel under its auspices.
Mr. Chrysochos also stated that the Ministry of Energy has been informed about the Letter of Intent that has been signed and they expect from it its own position on the project and its implementation, so that the necessary procedures can be launched as soon as possible.
When asked if the pending issues have been resolved with the issuance of the permits for the infrastructure of the PEC station in Vasilikos and for the pumping station on the coast, for the cooling of the power plants, Mr. Chrysochos said that the procedures for the issuance of the licenses that were deemed pending by the Ministry of the Interior have progressed and he estimates that these pending issues will soon be closed.
To another question whether PEC's intention to make modifications to the generators it secured from Siemens so that they can use diesel, in the absence of available natural gas, differs, the CEO of PEC replied that the procedures for the conversions to the generators are progressing. He claimed that in 3-4 months PEC will be able to produce electricity with diesel, waiting for the arrival of natural gas. And when natural gas is imported, he added, it can very easily be used by his company's generators.
- Regarding the natural gas regasification terminal in Vasiliko, owned by ETYFA, the information states that the state company is waiting for the so-called Gap Analysis from the project manager (Technip Energies), in order to see the compatibility of the existing structures with the original design, so that the next steps to find a contractor for the completion of the project can be decided. The delivery of the study is estimated in about a month.
