EastMed pipeline

Cyprus could start producing its first natural gas as soon as 2026, and plans to participate in a high-powered electricity cable project linking the eastern Mediterranean to continental Europe, its energy minister told Reuters.

Washington has weighed into a dispute between Cyprus and international companies led by Chevron over how to develop a giant offshore gas field, backing the US company's plan to link it to neighboring Egypt, two industry sources and a US source said on Friday.

A project to build a 2,000 km pipeline to bring natural gas from East Mediterranean fields to Europe is still alive, the CEO of Italian energy group Edison said on Friday.

Edison CEO Nicola Monti said that the group, which is one of the promoters of the pipeline, was actively talking with Cyprus and Israel about the project.

Energy, Commerce, and Industry Minister George Papanastasiou expressed optimism regarding the construction of a pipeline between Cyprus and Israel after a meeting with Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday. Papanastasiou anticipated a development plan for the fields in Block 6 of the Cypriot EEZ in the near future.

The market test for the EastMed pipeline - the project to transport natural gas from East Mediterranean gas fields to Italy and Central Europe through Greece - is expected to take place by the end of 2023, officials of owner IGI Poseidon told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

IGI Poseidon belongs in equal shares (50%-50%) to Greece's DEPA International Projects and Italy's Edison.

Cyprus hopes to develop plans for a pipeline linking it to Israel's east Mediterranean gas fields during talks which start next month, the island's top energy official told Reuters.

Proposals by the new centrist Cypriot government, which came to power in March, represent a markedly different approach to its predecessors in getting gas to Europe and other markets.

The Hellenic-Bulgarian Interconnector Pipeline (IGB) Project consists of a pipeline approximately 182 km long

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.

Positive developments are foretold for the EastMed gas pipeline, following the recent 180-degree turn of the Italian parliament, which unanimously passed a resolution in support of the major project.

Israel pledged its support to its European allies in their quest for energy security and independence through Energy Minister Karin Elharar during yesterday's ministerial meeting with Costas Skrekas and Cypriot Minister Natasa Peleidou.

This was noted by Ms. Elharar in her statements promising gas exports from the fields of the Israeli EEZ to European markets.