Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday said the finding of natural gas under the seabed off the coasts of both Greece and Cyprus “demonstrates the strategic importance of our countries for the entire European continent”.

He was speaking after the day’s intergovernmental summit held alongside the government of Cyprus, and made reference to an agreement signed last week which will see American multinational corporation ExxonMobil and Greek-owned Energean and Helleniq Energy begin exploring Block 2 of Greece’s Ionian Sea exclusive economic zone (EEZ), northwest of the island of Corfu.

He said Greece is “following Cyprus” on the matter of natural gas, and also spoke of “the catalytic role of schemes such as the ‘3+1’” – summits involving Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and the United States – in realising efforts to exploit natural resources off the coast of both countries.

At the weekend, Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou had said those efforts and last week’s 3+1 meeting of energy ministers had “concerned the United States’ interest in zero supply of Russian gas to Europe”.

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He said the US aims to replace Russian gas with “natural gas coming from other sources, such as American liquefied natural gas [and] gas coming from the [eastern Mediterranean] region”.

This, he said, is “why the Republic of Cyprus’ deposits may constitute a complementary quantity to the large quantities it wants to fill this corridor, and also to Israel”.

He explained that the US hopes to be able to have natural gas exported to Europe from the eastern Mediterranean via the Greek port of Alexandroupoli.

“The aim is essentially to stop gas from being pumped from Russia to Europe,” he said, before adding that “the three countries involved in the availability of natural gas with an import point of Alexandroupoli are the US, Cyprus, and Israel”.

He also spoke about natural gas deposits under the seabed of Cyprus’ maritime EEZ  and said agreements have already been signed regarding the Kronos gas field, located in Block 12 of Cyprus’ EEZ, regarding the transport of the gas to the Segas LNG terminal in the Egyptian port city of Damietta.

To this end, he said, the “technical preparation of the infrastructure” to connect the Kronos field to Egypt’s nearby Zohr gas field and thus allow for the Cypriot gas to be sent to Damietta for liquefaction, has begun.

“Kronos is a cross-border project, which has several challenges, but the existence of the infrastructure very close to Kronos makes these challenges more manageable and it is feasible to find and bring to the surface the gas from Cyprus and transport it towards Damietta for liquefaction,” he said.

He added that “the most important signing” of an agreement regarding Kronos will take place “within the coming weeks”, with that agreement to be signed by the Cypriot government and the consortium comprising French multinational corporation Total and Italian energy company Eni.

He also spoke about the Aphrodite gas field, located in Block 12, and said that a “techno-economic study” over the matter is being prepared and will be submitted by the end of next year, after which a final investment decision will be made and gas from the Aphrodite field will also be sent to Damietta for liquefaction.

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, with the initial aim being for natural gas from the Aphrodite gas field to be taken to Damietta.

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.

In September, 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.