Cyprus and Israel to discuss Aphrodite gas reservoir next week

Cyprus and Israel will hold a new round of online talks next week to reach an agreement on the cross-border gas reservoir between Cyprus’s Aphrodite field and Israel’s Yishai field, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Friday. The dispute arises as the Aphrodite reservoir extends geologically across the maritime boundary into the Yishai field, which lies in Israel’s exclusive economic zone. Aphrodite is located in Block 12 of the Cypriot EEZ and is operated by the US company Chevron. Energy Minister Michael Damianos said last month that meetings would take place in the first half of October. Talks have been under way for years, as Israel has argued that part of the gas in Aphrodite comes from Yishai, with estimates suggesting up to 10 per cent of the field could be Israeli, which would put more than €1 billion at stake. Block 12 sits at the southernmost tip of the Cypriot EEZ and borders the Israeli zone to the southeast. Once an agreement is reached, the government expects a consortium of Chevron, Israel’s NewMed Energy and BG Group, owned by Shell, to take a final investment decision on Block 12 next year. President Nikos Christodoulides met Chevron executive Javier la Rosa last month and called the project a matter of “strategic priority”. Discussions also covered plans to use Egypt’s infrastructure for the gas, with surveys for a pipeline to the Segas liquefied natural gas terminal in Damietta having begun in June last year.