Our View: Government’s approach to energy is clear and pragmatic

Cyprus’ natural gas reserves, ever since the first discovery in the Aphrodite field in September 2011, have been politically, never commercially, exploited. Politicians never skipped an opportunity to tell us about all the great things that could be achieved for the country. During the meltdown of the economy in 2013, one politician even suggested that we could pre-sell our ‘future’ gas discoveries to raise funds to cover the state’s financial needs.

The Anastasiades government, which fully exploited every natural gas find, kept changing its plans over the ten years it was in office. First, it was said it would build a liquefaction plant so we could export LNG, then it signed memorandums with neighbouring countries that amounted to nothing of practical value, it peddled the fantasy of the EastMed pipeline, while regularly putting back the date when marketing of gas would begin. The last forecast put this at some time in 2025/26.

The new government’s energy plans, referred to a little over a week ago, by the new Minister of Energy George Papanastasiou, appear to be a break from the grandiose designs of its predecessor. Speaking at a conference on Green Energy and Entrepreneurship, Papanastasiou, who had worked for years in the energy sector, said the ministry was preparing a national energy policy based on smaller projects, the main objective of which would be to bring natural gas to Cyprus for power generation. This would lead to cheaper energy for households and businesses and benefit the economy, he said.

He also expressed disagreement with the plan to take gas from the Aphrodite field to Egypt, (it would not be easy with existing infrastructure), saying he would rather the gas came to Cyprus in order to reduce energy costs. Whether oil giant Chevron which has the concession for Aphrodite, would back such an arrangement he did not say, but it was encouraging to hear some new thinking, which would free the exploitation of our natural gas reserves from the interests and plans of other countries that are not the same as those of Cyprus’. As the minister said, in an indirect swipe at the previous government’s energy decisions, “proper states first think about themselves and then about their neighbours.

This pragmatic approach was also displayed when Papanastasiou was asked to comment on the EastMed pipeline, which he described as “a geostrategic project” that was financially unviable. A multi-billion project could not be paid off in the short period of time left until the green deal kicks in, he explained. Such clear and pragmatic thinking is welcome. We have had enough of political exploitation of our natural gas reserves, the big words and declarations by the previous government having led nowhere. It is time for a policy that would have results.