Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks in Nicosia Thursday with Cypriot leaders on energy cooperation and economic ties, during a landmark visit to the east Mediterranean island.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks in
Nicosia
Thursday with Cypriot leaders on energy cooperation and economic ties, during a
landmark visit to the east Mediterranean island.
"I came here to develop our bilateral ties, economic ties, and our ties in
the field of energy," he said after talks at the presidential palace in
Nicosia
with
President Demetris Christofias. "The one area we are looking into now is
the field of energy, gas findings."
Both
Israel
and
Cyprus
have
discovered huge offshore natural gas deposits beneath the
Mediterranean
Sea
separating them, and have tentatively discussed cooperation on
delivering gas to European and Asian markets.
"We are looking within the next two months to complete a joint study to
see how we can transfer this cooperation in practical economic terms,"
said Netanyahu on his one-day visit, the first ever by an Israeli premier. "Cooperation
can help because scaled projects require scale and if you have more than one
partner it might be advantageous.
"This is something which President Christofias and I spoke about, because
a regional approach perhaps beginning with cooperation between
Cyprus
and
Israel
could
extend to others if they chose to enter it," he said.
Israel
's
Delek Energy Systems Ltd. (DLEN.TV) and
U.S.
firm
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) have struck gas offshore at the Tamar and Leviathan
fields, 130 kilometers off
Haifa
, and
more recently at the Tanin 1 field, also near the northern port city. Late last
year, Noble said it had discovered gas reserves of up to 8 trillion cubic feet
beneath the seabed just south of
Cyprus
.
"Our common effort and goal is the best possible utilization of these
reserves for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries, as well as for
the consolidation of peace and stability in the region," Christofias told
reporters after his talks with Netanyahu.
Netanyahu said the first aim of the two countries was a unitization
agreement--"the demarcation, the usage and exploitation on either side.
"Then we talked about the possibility, we haven't made a decision about a
common pipeline--it's about 40 kilometers between the two gas fields--but we
have to examine if this makes sense.
"We have to examine the question of LNG facilities: this could be in the
direction of
Europe
through
Cyprus
or
could be in the direction of
Asia
through
Israel
,"
Netanyahu said. "So all these possibilities have to be examined in terms
of feasibility, in terms of economic sense, in terms of investment.
"These are precisely the studies taking place right now and it tells you
what kind of grand opportunities they are," he said.
Netanyahu's visit comes with ties at an all-time low between
Israel
and
Turkey
,
which occupied the northern third of
Cyprus
in
1974 in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with
Greece
. In
May 2010, Israeli forces launched a deadly raid on a flotilla of aid ships
bound for the Gaza Strip, leaving nine Turkish nationals dead.
Cyprus
is
also locked in a row with
Turkey
over
maritime gas exploration rights.
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