Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt and Cyprus have signed an agreement for the construction of an underwater pipeline to export natural gas from the Cypriot Aphrodite field to Egypt.
The deal was signed by the Egyptian petroleum minister Tarek El-Molla and Cyprus’ energy minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis in the Cypriot capital Nicosia.
El-Molla said that the deal will positively help to secure gas supplies to the European Union (EU).
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Egypt and the EU in the energy field last April will open the horizons for the North African nation to play a key role in this field, he noted.
The Egyptian-Cypriot deal is one of the main axes in bolstering economic relations between the two countries as it paves the way to further discoveries in the Mediterranean area, he highlighted.
The deal will boost mutual collaboration between both countries in the gas and oil fields to build new partnerships and strategies that achieve integration in the energy field, the minister said.
It is worth noting that the pipeline linking Cyprus’ Aphrodite gas field to Egypt’s LNG facilities would cost between $800 million and $1 billion.
This pipeline is a key step to turn Egypt into a regional hub for natural gas export in the eastern Mediterranean.
