eastmed

The Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnection (IGB) has started test gas supplies, the project company ICGB AD told Trend news agency.

"We have started test deliveries with real quantities of natural gas, as planned. However, this is not the beginning of commercial exploitation," the ICGB said.

The establishment of a single company that will take over on behalf of the Greek state both the rights of exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons and the participations of DEPA in the international pipelines of natural gas is expected to be announced tomorrow morning by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The Greek Cypriot-Greek governments' deal to build a natural gas pipeline in the eastern Mediterranean without consulting Turkish Cyprus can only be described as a hostile attitude, Turkish Cypriot Premier Ersin Tatar said on Jan. 5

Straight on the heels of the signing by Greece-Cyprus-Israel of the EastMed pipeline agreement in Athens, the Turkish foreign ministry blasted the deal as yet another effort to lock Ankara and Turkish-occupied Cyprus out of the east Mediterranean oil and gas game.

The strategic dimension of the EastMed pipeline agreement signed on Thursday in Athens is undisputed and has been stressed by champions and critics of the construction project alike. However, the project also entails two elements that are important to Greece - political continuity and broader business opportunities - and should serve as a paradigm.

The EastMed pipeline agreement, announced to be signed between Greece, Greek Cyprus and Israel in Athens, is an issue that contradicts geographical facts, unreasonable in economic terms, and was decided on purely political concerns, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı has said in statement.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades plans to attend a ceremony in Athens for the signing of an agreement on the EastMed pipeline, after Greece announced Sunday the project will proceed despite the objections of Turkey.