Greece will maintain strategic oil reserves on behalf of Cyprus, according to an agreement initialed by Development Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos and his Cypriot Commerce, Industry and Tourism counterpart Giorgios Lilikas in Nicosia early in October.
A statement issued in Athens said the agreement provides for Cyprus’s strategic oil reserves to be kept at the storage installations of state-controlled Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) in the Attica region, according to European Union directives, and will be made available to the government of Cyprus whenever requested. The volume of the reserves will be determind in a technical study now in the preparation stage which will also determine the cost of storage.
Further, Nicosia asked Athens’s help in the introduction of natural gas to the island’s economy and the two agreed to cooperate on a plan for the development of renewable energy sources on Cyprus.