Cyprus will soon become a natural gas producer, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said on Monday.

“Commercial exploitation efforts, in close cooperation with our licenced block holders, are progressing, and we are confident that Cyprus will soon become a natural gas producer,” he told the Eastern Mediterranean energy conference in Limassol.

“This will be a milestone which will allow the Republic of Cyprus to fulfil its role in unleashing cleaner energy for our region, Europe and beyond, while offering tangible benefits for the Cypriot economy.”

Looking ahead to how such an eventuality could come to pass, he said there are “several options” which are currently being considered, including using existing infrastructure in Egypt to liquefy natural gas found under the seabed off the coast of Cyprus.

Other options, he said, include “new technologies such as floating liquefied natural gas and modular LNG for onshore applications”.

“The decisions we make now regarding infrastructure investments in Cyprus’ EEZ [exclusive economic zone] will be critical, not only for our initial production targets, but also in supporting our long-term ambitions as a natural gas producer,” he said.

To this end, he said the government’s “initiatives to advance discoveries” in the Kronos and Aphrodite gas fields “are gaining ground”.

With regard to the Kronos field, he said the government is “on track to complete [its] development plan by the end of the year, paving the way for the licencees’ final investment decision”.

The Cypriot government’s policy framework regarding the exploitation of natural gas resources is guided by four factors, he said: the speed of development, the creation of Cyprus’ EEZ infrastructure, production, and the direct and indirect benefits for the Cypriot economy.

The Kronos and Aphrodite gas fields are located in Block 6 and Block 12 of the EEZ respectively, with plans for natural gas from both fields to be transported to Egypt for liquefaction before being exported.

Last month, members of the Egyptian government travelled to Nicosia and announced that natural gas from Cyprus’ EEZ will be exported to Europe via Egypt in 2027, with the Egyptian government in February having been designated as the “host government” for Block 6 of Cyprus’ EEZ.

That target will depend on the final investment agreement mentioned by Papanastasiou on Monday being signed by the Egyptian government and the consortium comprising French multinational corporation Total and Italian energy company Eni, for the exploitation of the natural gas from the Kronos field.

Given the proximity of the Kronos reservoir and Block 6 to Egypt’s Zohr gas field, which Eni also operates, Eni will be able to use its own infrastructure to take the Cypriot natural gas to the Segas LNG terminal in the Egyptian port city of Damietta.

Seabed surveys to find a sinking point for the pipeline which will take natural gas from Cyprus’ EEZ to Egypt for liquefaction began in June.

That came after the governments of Cyprus and Egypt, as well as American multinational corporation Chevron, Israeli energy company NewMed Energy, and the BG Group, which is owned by Royal Dutch Shell, signed an agreement which, according to the Cypriot government, established “the framework for the effective commercialisation” of the gas in the field.

That agreement was signed alongside the agreement relating to Block 6 in February.