Eni’ s operations in Egypt will be used to process the gas produced in Cypriot waters the gas around Cyprus’ coast is locked in carbonate reservoirs, which can make extraction a challenge. Economics has compounded the problem. There is the issue of the regional market, which is highly competitive thanks to the production of Cyprus’ neighbours like Israel, Turkey and Egypt. The construction of subsea pipelines to deliver gas from the offshore rigs to land is also a costly endeavour.
Then there is politics. For many years, Turkey has objected to any Cypriot drilling on the grounds that many of the gas discoveries overlap with Turkey’ s continental shelf.
The island’ s breakaway Turkish Republic has complicated this matter further still, with that side of Cyprus claiming equal rights to the subsea reserves.
Egypt’ s role in the project Cyprus’ place in the easternmost reaches of the Mediterranean puts it within touching distance of Europe, Africa and Asia at once. Egypt, Cyprus’ neighbour to the south, is well-versed in offshore energy developments. For the processing and refining of the gas, Cronos intends to lean on some of Egypt’ s existing infrastructure rather than building entirely new facilities.
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