The Government has renewed its efforts in recent days to find and utilize every available window in the legislation, in order to avoid the time-consuming process of new bids for the remaining works at the natural gas terminal in Vassiliko and to proceed with an agreement with a foreign state-owned company, in the hope that such a way out would eventually be deemed legal.
Efforts in this direction had begun during the time of Giorgos Papanastasiou and are continued by the new minister Michalis Damianos, with the direct involvement and support of the Presidential Palace.
From the government's point of view, it is estimated that the legislation - which is fully harmonized with European Union law - allows, under certain conditions, to bypass the open tender process for the specific energy project, provided that the contractor for the completion of the terminal will be a state company.
Initially, it was mentioned that in order for this window in the legislation to be able to be used, the state-owned company to which the work will be awarded must belong to an EU member state.
But then the opinion was expressed that the new contractor could also be a state company from a third state.
On this basis, some exploratory contacts have recently been made with both a state-owned company of an EU country and a state-owned company of a third-country state. The ground for an agreement seemed to be more in terms of the third country, which is obviously the United Arab Emirates. And the company with which some contacts were made - and were renewed yesterday during Michalis Damianos' visit to the country - is the mighty ADNOC or one of its subsidiaries. Just a few days ago, ADNOC signed a 10-year liquefied natural gas supply agreement with India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp, worth $3 billion.
The available information is limited and states that there is a lively interest from ADNOC in the terminal in Vasiliko, but the prospects for an agreement are not many for the time being. ADNOC has communicated in various ways to the Government that it is interested in being directly involved in the open energy fronts of Cyprus, including the terminal and the investment in blocks in the Cypriot EEZ. Plots that have either already been granted (in which case he will have to secure them, at no cost, from the companies that manage them today), or have not been made available for research. In the latter case, a new licensing round should be announced by the Ministry of Energy.
As far as the terminal is concerned, however, ADNOC does not appear to be willing to be involved only as a contractor. He also wants the role of administrator or co-manager, which is currently held by the state-owned ETYFA. Such a prospect, however, complicates things legally and reduces the chances of an agreement.
Nothing can be considered definitive for the time being. What is certain is that in the event that the Republic will not ultimately avoid announcing a new tender for the completion of the projects in Vasiliko, the import of natural gas will be postponed in the long run. This is because ETYFA is not yet ready to take an official and binding position on what the French Technip has found and what it proposes, despite the fact that the Gap Analysis of the French was delivered to it on December 19. When ETYFA concludes what the Technip study says and informs the competent Ministry and the Presidency, then the way may be opened for the next time-consuming process: To prepare conditions for the announcement of the next tenders. In order to do this, however, ETYFA must accept to assume legal responsibilities against the mistakes and omissions of the Chinese CPP in the purchase and installation of equipment in the projects that have been carried out so far.
