Russian gas pipeline could doom Europe's Nabucco plan

Reuters


* Europe, U.S. support for Nabucco weakened
* Azeri consortium expected to pick winner in June
* Gas due to flow to European Union from 2019

Europe's grand plan for a gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea that would make its eastern states less reliant on Russia may have been fatally undermined by Russia's even bigger project.

As Azerbaijan nears a decision on which pipeline to choose for its future exports, the Nabucco plan that was long the European Union favourite could lose out to the more modest Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) across Greece to southern Italy.

In a complex equation based on politics as much as economics, TAP is in the ascendancy over the Nabucco pipeline to Austria in the face of Russia's $39 billion South Stream plan.

"The question is: 'Is Nabucco viable if South Stream is built?'" said Andrew Neff, Moscow-based principal energy analyst with research firm IHS.

The decision between TAP and Nabucco is expected in June from partners in the Shah Deniz consortium, led by gas field operator BP and Azeri state energy company Socar.

The European Union won't have a direct say in the choice, but its recent switch to "project neutrality" from support for Nabucco could make a big difference. It now says it would be happy with either pipeline or even both.

"There has been a dramatic shift," TAP's External Affairs Director Michael Hoffmann told Reuters.

Nabucco spokesman Christian Dolezal, however, said his project retained strong political support.

Azerbaijan crucial for Greece to escape economic crisis

Today's Zaman    Lamiya Adılgızı

Greece’s growing interest in the energy resources of Azerbaijan, an oil-booming country on the shores of the Caspian Sea, is down to the belief Azerbaijan’s natural gas could rescue the country from the economic crisis it has been going through if Azerbaijan agrees to export its natural gas through the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP), rather than its competitor Nabucco West.

 

Both pipelines fully depend on the same source of gas, Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan, and will start at the western coast of Turkey and convey the Azeri gas transported via the Turkey-Azerbaijan initiated Trans-Anatolia Pipeline (TANAP) across Turkey to EU markets.

“Greece considers TAP as a good opportunity to recover from its economic crisis and become a strategic energy terminal in the region. In order to materialize its ambition, Athens will try hard to persuade Baku to export TANAP gas through TAP, rather than the Nabucco-West option,” Emre İşeri, energy and security analyst at the İstanbul-based Kadir Has University, said in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras paid a visit to Azerbaijan this week on his way back from China, a month after Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos made a trip to the capital city of Baku for official talks on enhancing cooperation with Baku. The visit by Samaras has attracted a great deal of attention as it is the second high-ranking trip by Greece in a month.

Being received by Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev in Baku on May 20, both leaders had an opportunity to discuss boosting political, economic and cultural ties. The leaders’ tete-a-tete meeting, which reportedly mainly focused on important opportunities to further strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of energy, was described by Samara’s as “positive” while briefing Greek President Karolos Papoulias on May 21.

TAP Countries Give Tripartite Support

Natural Gas Europe

The governments of Albania, Greece and Italy have created a special committee to coordinate support for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), one of two major contenders for the contract to convey gas from the Shah Deniz 2 field off Azerbaijan.

External Affairs Director for TAP, Michael Hoffmann, said the support was a major vote of confidence in his consortium, which is led by Norwegian major Statoil.

TAP is included in the so-called Southern Corridor, a planned network of pipelines meant to offer alternatives to Russian gas for Europe.

Albania, Greece and Italy are all transit countries for TAP. When the gas supplies arrive in Italy, they will then be transported on to a range of customer countries, according to the plan.

TAP is up against the ambitious Nabucco West pipeline, which is backed by other European countries. Also on Wednesday, the Nabucco website recorded a call by Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania to support his alternative in the Shah Deniz decision.

On Monday the New York Times reported that Hungarian prime minister Mark Orban had said that MOL, his contry's participant in Nabucco West, wanted to withdraw from the project.

A BP-led consortium operating Shah Deniz is due to decide on the successful candidate by June.

Source: http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/tap-countries-give-tripartite-support

Interview with Charles Ellinas Chairman Of Cyprus Hydrocarbons Co.

Cyprus Mail

Interview with Charles Ellinas, chairman of the state hydrocarbons company KRETYK

* ‘Business as usual’ for oil and gas giants: Cyprus’ financial crisis not a problem
* Noble rebuffed Turkish demands to back away from exploratory drilling
* Six licensed blocks may hold 30 trillion cubic feet of gas - building an LNG first is a must

Q: There appears to be some confusion over the precise role of KRETYK, with reports suggesting some overlap with the duties of the Natural Gas Public Company, DEFA. Could you clear that up?

A: We are an oil and gas company, much like, say, Italy’s ENI. There is no overlap with DEFA, because we’ve met with them, and we agreed we have no intention of getting involved in gas sales and distribution in the island. And as far as I’m concerned, when we do bring the gas to the island - hopefully in 2018 - to Vasilikos plant there will be a link there and DEFA will take their gas and off they go. They’ll sell and distribute it and everything else. That’s not our job. DEFA is much like a utility company, much like for water. Gas is also a utility.

KRETYK is responsible for developing, managing exporting and operating gas. The Energy Service at the Commerce Ministry is responsible for licensing, and also polices adherence to the requirements of the production-sharing agreements. The companies involved in the production-sharing agreements have obligations to fulfill. We are not going to be policing that, it’s the job of the Energy Service, and there’s a very good reason for it: it could be that by the third round of licensing we could be strong enough to go into business with someone else and be part of a license. So we can’t be policing ourselves, someone else has to do it.

PRIO’s report - The Cyprus Hydrocarbons Issue: Context, Positions and Future Scenarios

Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

The discovery of hydrocarbons by Eastern Mediterranean countries that were previously thought to have no such natural resources is changing the geopolitics and economics of the region in ways that are still evolving. This study focuses on the case of Cyprus. It examines the relevant developments from the legal, political and economic angles, with the aim of producing a primer for those who are interested in the Cyprus hydrocarbons issue and wish to understand its many different aspects.
 
First we outline recent natural gas discoveries in the region and assess the significance of finds offshore Cyprus. We then examine the legal framework of maritime delineation in the region, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS or the Convention) as well as the reasons why neighbouring Turkey objects to certain UNCLOS articles and therefore why it has not signed the Convention. In this context we also detail the maritime jurisdiction disputes in the region which relate to Cyprus, including the dispute between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea and the maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Cyprus problem we give the historical and political background to the problem and particularly the dispute about sovereignty between the island’s Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. We then outline the positions on hydrocarbons exploration of various parties involved in the dispute: the Greek Cypriots, the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey (including the difference in Turkey’s stance between exploration in the south of the island and exploration west of the island), as well as the response of the international community. We explain that, while it is clear that the international community supports the right of the (de facto Greek Cypriot) Republic of Cyprus (RoC) to explore for oil and gas, it also has strong expectations that the hydrocarbons revenues be shared in the event of a solution to the Cyprus problem.

For Download full report please click here


Source: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

The future of Cyprus: A troubled island story

The Economist

Its bail-out may keep Cyprus in the single currency, but at a high cost

DREAD was mixed with anger. Cypriots feared that deposits in the two largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank, might be taxed or converted into worthless equity—and worried about the economic effects. The glum mood in the shops and cafés of Nicosia was little improved when the terms of their country’s €10 billion ($13 billion) bail-out emerged on March 25th. The deal will close Laiki Bank, restructure Bank of Cyprus and impose big losses in both institutions on deposits above €100,000.

Many anxious Cypriots queued patiently to draw cash out of ATMs. Others protested angrily in the streets, waved Russian flags and talked about leaving the euro. They had hoped that joining the European Union (in 2004) and the euro (in 2008) meant solidarity from their fellows. The troubles of the two banks were caused, some believe, by a decision to buy Greek government bonds that were then restructured. They feel they are being punished by the EU for no fault of their own.

Victimhood is hardly new in Cyprus: the island’s troubles are routinely blamed on outsiders like Turkey, Greece, Britain or (now) Russia. What stuck in the craw was being told that the Cypriot business model had to change. Not all agree: speaking at a conference organised by The Economist in Nicosia on March 22nd, Chris Pissarides, a Nobel-prize-winning economist, argued that relying on business services and tourism in an economy with no manufacturing tradition was quite sensible.

Turkey ready to negotiate two-state solution for Cyprus: Turkish FM

Turkey is ready to negotiate a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, if reunification talks between two sides fail and no agreement is reached over the establishment of a joint commission on gas resources on the island, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.

Davutoğlu criticized the Greek Cypriot plan to use oil and gas exploration rights around the eastern Mediterranean island as collateral for an international bailout package that it desperately needs to protect its economy from going bankrupt. “As Turkey, we want negotiations to start between both sides on the island and between Turkey and Greece, and we want a result, eventually. But Greek Cyprus unilaterally enacted a law that ignores the rights of Turkish Cypriots over the resources around Cyprus,” daily Habertürk quoted Davutoğlu as saying.

“We have three paths ahead … The U.N. mission should be accelerated and the sides should talk on a comprehensive solution and the resources should belong to a united Cyprus. A new state, which Turks are a part of, should be able to use them,” he added.

Cyprus Potential Vast Natural Gas Reserves on the Table

Naturag Gas Europe

Cyprus is making headlines these days due to its centrality in the EU banking and debt crisis, but it’s also one of the few areas in Europe where potentially vast unexplored natural gas reserves are to be found offshore.

In a recent international energy seminar organized by the Greek Institute of Energy of South East Europe (ΙΕΝΕ), interesting facts and data were presented by scientists and market experts that shed light to a series of fascinating developments that will shape to an extent the energy game in Europe.

Presently six sea blocks of Cyprus have been awarded for research to international companies (Blocks: 2, 3, 9, 10, and 12). The President of the Cyprus agency for hydrocarbons (KRETYK), Charalambos Ellinas, stated that his organization estimates around 40 trillion cubic feet could be found only in these 6 blocks and that by 2020 the country could export around 2 trillion cf per annum to world markets, an impressive amount, enough to cover the needs of a country like France. Already French Total, Italian Eni and Korean KOGAS have bought research and exploration rights and Noble Energy in Block 12 has made the first discovery of an estimated 3.5 TCF. The total capital expenditure for the six blocks over the coming years is estimated at $2 billion and Ellinas also commented that his agency assumes that block 9 (to be researched by Total) most probably contains twice as much gas as the 12 one.

Could the recent oil and gas discoveries in the Aegean Sea turn the region into the 'New Gulf'?

 Al Jazeera

Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of oil and gas are believed trapped under the seabed around Greece - enough to wipe out the country's debt for good.

But can they get to it? And who else is looking to get their hands on the energy bonanza?

Some experts say the recent discoveries of oil and gas in the Aegean Sea could turn the entire region into the 'New Gulf'. But where there is oil, there is usually some sort of conflict.

The country believes that it has at least $600bn worth of gas and oil reserves.

And the US Geological Society estimates there are around 22 billion barrels of oil in the Ionian Sea, off western Greece, and another 4 billion barrels in the northern Aegean Sea.

Turkey also has oil and gas in the area - its total reserves are estimated at about 20 trillion cubic feet.

There is an estimated 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas off the shore of the Greek-held part of Cyprus. In fact the eastern Mediterranean - surrounded by Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus - holds an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of gas - enough to supply the world for a year.

Meanwhile, Israel has 33 trillion cubic feet of gas, which is worth about $670bn.

We look at how Greece may cancel its debt by tapping into these natual resources.

Source:  http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/countingthecost/2013/03/2013316112510773383.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

Turkish-Greek economic ties expand

Capital.gr

The Turkish market has become a major export destination for crisis-stricken Greece, as Greek companies find it harder to sell in the domestic market due to worsening financial conditions of the average Greek household.

Greek exports to Turkey surged to $3.5 billion (2.6 billion euros) in 2012 from $1.1 billion in 2009, according to Turkstat data. During this period, the average year-on-year increase of Greek exports hovered around 50 percent, while Turkish exports remained flat at around $1.5 billion each year.

This eye-catching shift in trade relations left Turkey as a net importer from Greece, whereas in 2007, before the Greek debt crisis, Turkey had a positive trade balance with Greece of $1.7 billion.

Archontis Pantsios, a professor of economics at The American College of Thessaloniki, said that since the onset of the crisis in Greece, Turkey has become a more suitable market for Greek companies.

"They are looking to lower the costs and exporting to Turkey is an effective option for Greek companies," Pantsios told SETimes.

Turkey΄s vibrant domestic demand and large market is seen as another reason for the increase in Greek exports to Turkey.

Nabucco and TAP gas pipelines could both be built one day -TAP

Reuters

Both of the projects vying to pipe Azeri gas to the European Union can be built but not yet, a senior official from one of them said on Wednesday.


Second pipeline could take another five-to-10 years
Decision on winning project expected by mid-2013



The governments of Albania, Greece and Italy on Wednesday signed an agreement, confirming their support for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), one of two projects in competition to reduce EU dependence on Russian energy.

"There will be 10 billion cubic metres of gas available from Shah Deniz phase II. In that context, there can't be two large-scale pipelines built at the same time," TAP External Affairs Director Michael Hoffmann told Reuters.

"But we can have two pipelines in a sequential situation. It will only be a matter of time before more gas comes on stream from Azerbaijan, though this may possibly take another five to 10 years."

TAP is proposing a route through Albania and Greece into Italy, while the rival Nabucco West project would ship gas along a different path from Turkey's western border into a hub in Austria from whence it could be distributed.

Heavily indebted nation Greece is particularly in need of the kind of investment an energy pipeline would bring and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras attended Wednesday's signing ceremony in Athens.

Gas in the eastern Mediterranean: Drill, or quarrel?

The Economist 

Politics could choke supplies from big new offshore gasfields

AN OLD joke—that Moses led his people to the only place in the Middle East without oil—needs updating. Israel may not have oil, but it does have gas. The Tamar gasfield, discovered in 2009 off Israel’s coast, holds great promise. Leviathan, discovered in 2010, holds even more. The US Geological Survey reckons that there could be 120 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable gas in the Levant basin, which washes the shores of Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus (see map). So far, however, only 35tcf has been located. And as Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute, a think-tank, points out: “Israel’s initial euphoria” is fading. The region’s political fractiousness does not end at the water’s edge.

Israel, which relies heavily on imported energy, has much to gain. The gas discovered so far could satisfy its domestic demand for 20 years, according to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. And exports could yield oodles of cash. Cyprus stands to benefit, too, from the 7tcf so far discovered off its coast. It currently generates 95% of its energy with pricey oil; gas would be cheaper, and could be exported.

China, Russia, U.S. raise Mediterranean naval focus

A Chinese Submarine on Training Duty

Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent      Reuters

Egypt has seen no shortage of empires come and go, from its own ancient civilizations to those of Greece, Rome, Britain and France. Now, it is among the outposts of the latest Mediterranean power: China.


(Reuters) - PORT SAID, Egypt Situated at the northern end of the Suez Canal, the Port Said Container Terminal is one of the busiest in the region, vital for shipments not only to Egypt but also much of Europe and the Middle East.

Like several other key ports in the region - including Piraeus in Greece and Naples in Italy - it is now partially owned by China. The state-owned Cosco Pacific holds 20 percent the terminal, helping make it one of the dominant - if not the dominant - Mediterranean port operators.

Cosco stresses that it is a purely commercial venture and many analysts agree. But few doubt that Beijing has made a wider geopolitical decision to become much more involved in the region.

For the last two years, the People's Liberation Army Navy has sent one or more warships through the Suez Canal to visit southern European ports, the furthest its fleet has ever operated from home.

But China is not the only great power now increasing its involvement in the area. With Russia sending warships to positions off Syria and the United States signaling it too intends to take the region more seriously, the Mediterranean is clearly no longer seen as the strategic backwater many believed it had become.

Turkey, Greece wary of territorial waters claims

H.K. Tzanis             SETimes 

Both countries appear poised to keep discussing the potential dispute amid reports that Greece may unilaterally claim an exclusive economic zone.

Recent and highly publicised gas finds in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel and Cyprus, coupled with cash-strapped Greece's eagerness to better exploit natural resources, has thrust the question of exclusive economic zones into the spotlight.

Over the past couple years Athens and Ankara have moved to mend once tense relations despite long-entrenched opposing views on sea rights in the Aegean. But recent reports in Greek media that the country is preparing to unilaterally delimitate the zones carries the potential for friction.

Turkey's chief foreign affairs official insists, however, that the two countries have "channels" to discuss and deal with any dispute.

At the crux of Athens' standing position on maritime jurisdictions is the landmark UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, of which Greece and all EU member-states are signatories, but Turkey is not.

The convention, in force since 1994, recognises nations' rights to extend their territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) and an exclusive economic zone up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from a defined coastal baseline. To date, neither Turkey nor Greece have officially claimed an economic zone or extended their territorial waters to the full 12 miles in the Aegean.

Turkey's big thirst for new power

Photo by Osman Orsal - Reuters

Florian NEUHOF*   The National


Turkey is in a rush to grow its energy sector. And recent news that the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, known as Taqa, will invest heavily in Turkish coal-fired power plants shows how serious Ankara is taking this commitment.

The deal, announced at the start of the year, will see Taqa build and operate a power generation base totalling 7,000 megawatts, or about 10 per cent of Turkey's electricity needs by the time the plants are completed.

Turkey's energy minister, Taner Yildiz, is keen to emphasise that efforts will be taken to minimise the environmental impact of the country's power sector.

The plants will be fed with lignite, a soft brown coal reviled by environmentalists for the emissions its use entails. Lignite is found in Turkey's soil and offers some relief in the complicated task of securing hydrocarbons from abroad.

Turkey is dependent on imports for 91 per cent of its oil and 98 per cent of its natural gas and it relies heavily on Iran and Russia for its supplies. It is therefore keen to push the share of electricity produced from gas from about 50 per cent to less than 30 per cent in the next decade and to diversify its hydrocarbon sources.
Turkey has reluctantly complied with United States and European Union demands to reduce imports from Iran as part of a new round of sanctions, but its dependence on Iranian supply has meant it has refused to cut economic ties with the country.

Turkey’s Energy Challenges

Daniel WAGNER* & Giorgio CAFIERO**      CounterPunch

Ankara will soon be confronted with some difficult foreign policy decisions that could affect its long-term energy interests. The discovery of vast reserves of natural gas off the coasts of Cyprus and Israel could oblige Turkey to resolve longstanding disputes with its neighbours.

Turkey has managed to maintain impressive growth rates over the past decade in spite of a lack of indigenous sources of energy. Ankara has pursued a foreign policy aimed at diversifying the country’s energy imports while simultaneously positioning itself as a major energy hub. Turkey’s geostrategic position makes achieving this dual objective challenging, but it has managed to strike a balance between being assertive and deferential in acquiring and managing its energy supply. While the Turkish government’s power to influence events in the region is of course limited, it will be compelled to make some difficult foreign policy decisions in the near term that could substantially impact its long-term energy interests.

Turkey imports 91 percent of its oil and 98 percent of its natural gas. In 2011, approximately 51 percent of its oil came from Iran and 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia. Iraq’s resurrection as a major oil and gas exporter to the world offers Turkey an opportunity to become an increasingly influential energy hub between the Arabian Gulf and European markets. However, the tense triangular relationship between Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government has greatly complicated the energy trade with Iraq. This has also cast doubt about the long-term reliability of the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline that exports nearly 400,000 barrels per day to the important port of Ceyhan in southern Turkey. Turkey’s perennial battle with Kurdish separatists has served to ensure that the relationship with Iraq remains problematic and uncertain.

The New Mediterranean Oil and Gas Bonanza Part II: Rising energy tensions in the Aegean—Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria

F. William Engdahl      Global Research

The discovery in late 2010 of the huge natural gas bonanza off Israel’s Mediterranean shores triggered other neighboring countries to look more closely at their own waters. The results revealed that the entire eastern Mediterranean is swimming in huge untapped oil and gas reserves. That discovery is having enormous political, geopolitical as well as economic consequences. It well may have potential military consequences too.

Preliminary exploration has confirmed similarly impressive reserves of gas and oil in the waters off Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and potentially, Syria.

Greek ‘energy Sirtaki’ 

Not surprisingly, amid its disastrous financial crisis the Greek government began serious exploration for oil and gas. Since then the country has been in a curious kind of a dance with the IMF and EU governments, a kind of “energy Sirtaki” over who will control and ultimately benefit from the huge resource discoveries there. 

In December 2010, as it seemed the Greek crisis might still be resolved without the by-now huge bailouts or privatizations, Greece’s Energy Ministry formed a special group of experts to research the prospects for oil and gas in Greek waters. Greece’s Energean Oil & Gas began increased investment into drilling in the offshore waters after a successful smaller oil discovery in 2009. Major geological surveys were made. Preliminary estimates now are that total offshore oil in Greek waters exceeds 22 billion barrels in the Ionian Sea off western Greece and some 4 billion barrels in the northern Aegean Sea. [1] 

Greece Is Not Poor - It Actually Has Massive Uptapped Reserves Of Gold, Oil And Natural Gas

By Michael

It turns out that the poster child for the European debt crisis is not actually poor at all.  In fact, the truth is that the nation of Greece is sitting on absolutely massive untapped reserves of gold, oil and natural gas.  If the Greeks were to fully exploit the natural resources that are literally right under their feet, they would no longer have any debt problems.  Fortunately, this recent economic crisis has spurred them to action and it is now being projected that Greece will be the number one gold producer in Europe by 2016. 

In addition, Greece is now opening up exploration of their massive oil and natural gas deposits.  Reportedly, Greece is sitting on hundreds of millions of barrels of oil and gigantic natural gas deposits that are worth trillions of dollars.  It is truly sad that Greece should be one of the wealthiest nations in all of Europe but instead the country is going through the worst economic depression that it has experienced in modern history.  It is kind of like a homeless man that sleeps on the streets every night without realizing that a relative has left him an inheritance worth millions of dollars.  Greece is not poor at all, and hopefully the people of Greece can learn the truth about all of this wealth and chart a course out of this current mess.

I have written extensively about the nightmarish economic conditions that Greece is experiencing right now.  Just check out this article, this article and this article.  Since the depression began in Greece, the Greek economy has contracted by more than 20 percent.  In April 2010, the unemployment rate in Greece was only 11.8 percent.  Since then it has skyrocketed to 25.1 percent.

Is the new Cyprus-Greece-Israel energy triangle casting a net for Turkey?

George STAVRIS       Hürriyet Daily News

Long-running speculation over massive natural gas reserves in the tumultuous Southeastern Mediterranean and Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) became a reality in December 2011 when official research and scope reports were released.

Today, the Republic of Cyprus finds itself grappling with this mixed blessing. These rich findings can provide long-term benefits for the country but Cyprus is more like a novice treading a very slippery floor in the major leagues of global diplomacy.

A new but familiar player, the state of Israel, has made a thunderous entry into the traditionally loud trio of Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, causing significant ruptures to the balance of the neighborhood. The event that sparked Israel’s newfound interest in Cyprus was the definitive signs of massive natural gas reserves in Cyprus’ Plot No. 12 (fittingly codenamed “Aphrodite”), right next to Israel’s own EEZ and massive reserves in its “Leviathan” plot.

It became apparent right from the start that Israel naturally considered every issue as highly imbued with its own national interest. Thus the decision to collaborate in treating the extracted natural gas and then transporting it to Europe (from both countries’ plots) came as a complete formula: pipelines would be part of a joint network, a vast specialized storage terminal, valued at 10 billion euros and funded almost completely by Israel. They would be built at the Vassilikos port near Limassol and the majority of the approximately 10,000 highly skilled personnel needed would be Israelis. Naturally, additional issues have come up in the logical process of things. The project will take about six or seven years to complete and inevitably the thousands of Israeli personnel engaged in it will need to have their families near them, so the total number of Israelis in Cyprus would become even greater, at least 15,000. These Israeli citizens will need to be housed in safe and secure conditions near the working site. Any analyst can easily run the math on the size and nature of this security force.

Cyprus defies Turks on gas plan

Ekathimerini

Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias said Tuesday that his country’s plans for gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean were its sovereign right and would not be derailed by Turkish threats.

Responding to a series of statements from officials in Ankara, warning of a Turkish naval response if Nicosia proceeds with its exploration plans, Christofias said, “In the event of Turkey committing an unlawful act -- something which we hope will not happen -- we expect a strong and effective response from the international community.”

Christofias also lashed out at Turkey for its increasingly aggressive stance vis-a-vis Israel, with which Cyprus is cooperating ahead of the exploration as Cyprus’s undersea hydrocarbon reserves border on Israel’s huge offshore gas field, known as Leviathan. “In addition to questioning the sovereign rights of the Cyprus Republic, Turkey is also threatening our country and its associates,” Christofias said. “It is causing tension in the region, sending the message that it acts like a troublemaker and violates international norms.”