THE CYPRUS SETTLEMENT AND EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN HYDROCARBON SCENARIOS
The speakers were Matthew Bryza, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow; Charles Ellinas, Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative Nonresident Senior Fellow; Ahmet Evin, Emeritus Faculty Member, Sabanci University; Mithat Rende, Ambassador(R), Former Chairman of the Executive Committee, OECD; and Harry Tzimitras, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow. The Panel was moderated by the Atlantic Council’s Turkey Representative and Director of the Atlantic Council’s Energy and Economic Summit, Defne Sadıklar Arslan.
The panelists agreed that global gas developments and the low price environment present a significant challenge to upstream energy projects worldwide, including the Eastern Mediterranean. However, more pressing in the Eastern Mediterranean is a resolution to the conflict in Cyprus. The success of resource exploitation is dependent upon a resolution of the conflict. According to Mr. Ellinas, without a solution to the Cyprus issue, exports from Aphrodite or Leviathan may have to be accomplished through floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) or floating compresses natural gas (FCNG) and would be delayed into the 2020s.
