NICOSIA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Egypt signed an agreement for the construction of an underwater pipeline to export natural gas to Egypt, a statement said on Wednesday.
It said the deal was signed by Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Yiorgos Lakkotrypis and Egypt's Oil Minister Tarek el Molla, in the present of an EU official who expressed support for the project.
The terms of the actual commercial agreement for the construction of the pipe will be discussed between the companies involved in the project, a Noble Energy consortium and the operators of a liquefaction plant at Idku, Egypt.
Lakkotrypis said the agreement was aimed at ensuring the timely and safe development, construction, and operation of an underwater pipeline directly to Egypt through the two countries' exclusive economic zones.
A joint committee will be set up in the next 30 days to oversee the project.
The pipe is intended to convey natural gas from Cyprus's Aphrodite natural gas field to a liquefaction plant at Idku, a town in Egypt's Beheira Governorate.
Aphrodite is operated by Texas-based Noble Energy in association with the Israeli Dalek Drilling and Royal Dutch Shell through its acquisition of British Gas.
It is estimated that Aphrodite field, some 160 kilometres off the south shores of Cyprus, contains between 3.6 and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The pipe will make use of existing Egyptian infrastructure from depleted gas fields to Idku.
The agreement includes a stipulation that liquefied gas from Idku will be mainly destined for European countries.
An official of the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Union present at the signing ceremony said that Europe is an attractive market for natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
The official also said the European Commission supports the building of liquefaction plants on European soil if adequate quantities of gas are discovered, as well as the East Med project which is currently under study by Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy for the construction of a natural gas pipe from the eastern Mediterranean to the shores of Italy through Cyprus and Greece.
A field discovered by Italian state ENI company in Cyprus's exclusive economic zone is said to be among the top five gas fields in the world, but a final assessment of its capacity is still pending.
Exxon Mobil, in association with Qatar Petroleum, is scheduled to start an offshore exploratory natural gas drilling in the last quarter of this year.
