A new head of the Natural Gas Public Company (Defa) was appointed on Tuesday after the former chairman passed away.

The new chairman of Defa is Giorgos Ashikalis. He replaces the ex-chairman Antonis Patsalis, who died on July 29 aged 72.

Ashikalis was until recently a member of the Defa board. His place on the board now goes to Constantinos Danos.

By law, Defa is the only entity permitted to import and distribute natural gas in the Republic of Cyprus.

It oversees the LNG import project at Vasiliko via its subsidiary Etyfa (Natural Gas Infrastructure Company).