Dr Charles Ellinas

Economic success creates a new question for Cyprus. Having repaired the state’s balance sheet, is the island using its financial strength sufficiently to repair structural weaknesses in its economy? ...

The lack of visible benefits from Cyprus’ Competitive Electricity Market has reopened debate over the single buyer model. Under a conventional single-buyer arrangement, one body purchases electricity through tenders or ...

Cyprus’ competitive electricity market completes its first year of operation on October 1. Technically, it is functioning. Electricity is traded through day-ahead, intraday, forward and balancing arrangements broadly aligned with EU’...

The return of acute geopolitical risk to global energy markets is changing the way energy security is understood. The central question is no longer simply how to deliver energy as ...

The debate over Cyprus’ high electricity prices has increasingly focused on renewable energy producers and, in particular, whether commercial solar parks are earning excessive returns. This is a legitimate question ...

MEP Fidias Panayiotou’s initiative to reduce electricity prices by 20 per cent has sparked intense public debate. The government, professional bodies, and market stakeholders quickly disputed his calculations, particularly regarding ...

As Cyprus enters the run up to the 2028 presidential election, energy is perhaps the biggest economic challenge the next administration will inherit. From electricity prices and energy security to natural ...

The Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) has entered a new phase. The recent decision by French infrastructure investor Meridiam to become the project’s 66 per cent majority shareholder has renewed confidence ...

With the energy sufficiency problems and power cuts that Cyprus is currently facing, energy will be one of the defining issues for the next government. The challenge extends beyond individual ...

The publication of the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2026 has produced widely differing interpretations. Some commentators argue that it demonstrates the energy transition is accelerating rapidly. Others ...

The first two articles in this series concluded that the key question facing Cyprus is no longer whether natural gas is needed, but whether the current Vasiliko LNG import project ...

For many years, the public debate has assumed that replacing oil with natural gas would automatically produce substantially lower electricity prices. That assumption was reasonable when the Vasilikos LNG import ...

For years, public debate in Cyprus has focused almost entirely on the international price of LNG. Every discussion about importing natural gas eventually arrives at the same question: what will ...

When Cyprus approved the Vasiliko LNG import project in 2019, the rationale appeared compelling. Importing natural gas promised to reduce electricity prices, lower carbon emissions, improve security of energy supply, diversify ...

The Commerciality Declaration for Cyprus’ Glaucus and Pegasus gas discoveries made this week marks an important milestone – not only for the island, but also for ExxonMobil’s wider Eastern Mediterranean ...

The first round of high-level US-Iran talks in Lucerne produced cautious but meaningful progress towards restoring stability in one of the world’s most important energy regions. Both sides described ...

For decades, Cyprus has treated energy policy and water policy as largely separate issues. Energy planning focused on electricity generation, fuel imports and infrastructure development, while water planning focused on ...

The question is no longer whether Cyprus needs a long-term energy plan. The question is what such a plan should include. A successful energy strategy must provide a coherent framework ...

Recent warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concerns raised by the auditor-general and growing criticism from energy experts all point to the same conclusion: Cyprus urgently needs a comprehensive ...

The launch of the East Med Energy Center (Emec) in Houston this week and the revival of high-level regional energy diplomacy mark significant developments in East Med energy cooperation. The ...

Chevron has just filed a request to acquire a 70 per cent stake in offshore Block 10 in the Ionian Sea that is expected to be granted by Greece. The following examines ...

On 19 May Cyprus approved the Development and Production Plan of the Kronos gasfield in block 6 by the ENI-TotalEnergies consortium. This focuses on a fast-track, subsea tie-back to the existing Zohr ...

The US-Iran ceasefire remains in place, but President Trump’s repeated warnings keep oil prices high, over $110/b. The much-heralded Trump-Xi summit in Beijing was more of a show than ...

The developments of the past few days clearly demonstrate the adage “it is easier to start a war than to end one,” a recognised principle of military history and geopolitics. ...