Cypriot Energy, Trade and Industry Minister Michael Damianou stated that his country could begin supplying European countries with natural gas from an offshore field off its coast in the spring of 2028.
Damiano explained in an interview with the Associated Press that Total Energies and Eni reached a final agreement last month to continue developing the Kronos field off the southern coast of Cyprus, noting that the field is set to be the first source of Cypriot gas to Europe.
He said that this is "important for Europe at the moment because of the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East, for Cyprus to become an alternative source of gas."
The agency added that European consumers could receive natural gas from the offshore field off the coast of Cyprus starting in March 2028, to help meet their energy needs.
According to the timetable of the alliance between Eni and Total Energies, work will begin later this year on laying a pipeline from the Kronos field to the existing infrastructure in Egypt’s giant Zohr natural gas field, 105 kilometers away, with the work expected to take up to 18 months.
After the pipeline is completed, the gas will be transported to the Damietta gas processing facility on Egypt’s northern coast, where it will be liquefied before being shipped to Europe.
Damiano had announced last March that Cyprus planned to start gas production from the offshore Kronos field by 2028, amid tensions affecting energy supplies due to the situation in the Middle East.
Russia had previously asserted that Western countries had made a grave mistake by abandoning the purchase of Russian fuels, arguing that this would lead to a new dependence on energy sources at higher prices, and that countries that had stopped buying Russian oil and gas were still obtaining them through intermediaries at higher prices.
