Brussels, 09/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 8 December, the European Commissioner for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, met the Cypriot energy minister, Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, and his Greek counterpart, Yannis Maniatis, to discuss the gas pipeline project EastMed currently being negotiated by Greece, Cyprus and Israel, to transport gas to the EU from offshore sources recently discovered off the coasts of Cyprus and Israel, in the Levantine Basin, in the eastern Mediterranean.
“We discussed the various parameters of this project and exploration plans. The question is whether the project is affordable, useful in responding to the energy needs of Cyprus, and under what conditions the new gas fields in the Mediterranean could contribute to the security of supply to the whole of the EU”, Sefcovic explained, after the Energy Council of Tuesday 9 December. “The next step will be to continue the feasibility study, as a gas interconnection between Cyprus and Crete would not be easy from a technical point of view”, he added.
“This project deserves greater attention. It seems important to us to support the feasibility study of this project, which will help to make use of considerable reserves in the south-eastern Mediterranean”, the Italian energy minister, Claudio De Vicenti, added. (EH)