The ENI company will expedite its
exploratory activities in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone as a result of it
being further encouraged by the developments on the Cyprus problem, but also
from the related statement by the President of the United States of America,
said the Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr Yiorgos
Lakkotrypis, who mentioned that following some formalities, the signing of a
Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of an inland terminal will be
signed with the company.
In his statements to reporters, on the
sidelines of the visit of the President of the Republic to the Holy See, Mr
Lakkotrypis said that “yesterday morning, I had a meeting with the leadership
of the Italian company ENI during which we discussed various issues, such as,
for example, their planning for exploratory activities in the Cypriot Exclusive
economic Zone.
We also discussed the issue of the
Memorandum of Understanding for the liquefaction terminal in Cyprus. The
Memorandum is ready, it has been agreed on, and there are some formalities
left, such as its approval by the Council of Ministers, so that we can proceed
to its signing in the next few days.
This Memorandum states the intention of
the company to cooperate with the Government of Cyprus for construction of a terrestrial terminal in Cyprus.
We also had discussions about the
exploratory activities of the company for next summer. ENI has been encouraged
by the latest developments on the Cyprus problem and in particular by the
statement of Mr Obama, the President of the United states of America, a
statement that has encouraged them to proceed freely in their activities,
because we are talking about hundreds of millions of euro that will be spent.”
Asked if there is a time reference point
with regard to the construction of the terminal, Mr Lakkotrypis said that “for
the terminal we are waiting for the discovery of more natural gas, so that we
can proceed with this planning. The Memorandum includes a provision for the
inclusion of ENI in the entire planning for the construction of the
terminal. A similar agreement has been signed with Noble as well as with the
French company TOTAL.”
Asked for his assessment as to what will
be done on the part of ENI, Mr Lakkotrypis said that “the initial planning for
the exploratory drillings was for the third and fourth quarters of 2014. ENI is
now making a great effort to speed up and to begin the exploratory drillings
toward the end of August of 2014, something that is very important because it
will expedite the procedures for the discovery of more natural gas.”
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