Dr Charles Ellinas

It has been over two-and-a-half years since ExxonMobil last drilled in Cyprus’ EEZ, but the company is about to come back. In an interview earlier this month the minister of ...

By Charles Ellinas Finally, some good news about the beleaguered LNG import project in Cyprus. Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou confirmed in parliamentary hearings that an agreement has been reached with ...

This is based on my presentation at Atlantic Council’s ‘Regional Conference on Clean and Secure Energy’ that took place earlier this week. Every international meeting, be it the COPs, ...

Barriers to decarbonising the regional economies was one of the subjects covered at the ‘Climate Crisis in the East Med and the Middle East’ conference organised by Cyprus Institute in ...

Good news on the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) front, but priority must now shift to implementing measures that will bring electricity prices down between now and 2030, when the GSI is ...

The issue of a ‘notice-of-breach’ to Chevron – the Aphrodite gasfield operator – and its partners by the minister of energy, George Papanastasiou, on August 25 took everyone by surprise. They have been ...

As we get closer to critical decision-making deadlines, there is no end to debates about the viability and future of the Great Sea Interconnector. But sadly, often these are not ...

With shocks following shocks of an unprecedented scale and gravity, and with the European Commission (EC) withdrawing its support for the LNG import project at Vasilikos and asking for its ...

By Charles Ellinas Earlier in July, the EU published its ‘European Innovation Performance Scoreboard 2024’ and in June the IMF published its new ‘AI Preparedness Index Dashboard’. Both put Cyprus in ...

During the last two months two major reports were released reviewing world energy. First was the Energy Institute’s (EI) ‘Statistical review of world energy 2024’ published in June, followed by ...

By Charles Ellinas Judging from the latest statements by the Energy Minister, George Papanastasiou, the negotiations with the Chinese-led consortium CPP-METRON Consortium Ltd (CMC) have probably been exhausted, with no ...

Europe and the European Commission (EC) consider electricity grid interconnections between member states as strategically important, contributing to Europe’s energy security. They offer economic efficiency, provide reliability to the ...

By Charles Ellinas Eni, the Italian multinational energy company, published its ‘Capital Markets Update’ on 14th March focusing on ‘a distinctive strategy to address the challenges and opportunities of the ...

Implications of Euro-elections on European energy The headline in the FT following the June elections in Europe was: ‘Europe’s green backlash – Rightwing advances in EU parliament (EP) elections will ...

It is clear from the spectacular failure of almost all major high profile projects this year that the whole system of tendering and awarding such projects is in disrepair and ...

By Charles Ellinas June 3 was World Bicycle Day, but in Cyprus, it went completely unnoticed. And for a good reason. Cypriots mostly use cars to go anywhere, even to shops ...

This is becoming the recurring theme of all major projects in Cyprus. Almost invariably they all run into problems, run out of time and costs sky-rocket. The antiquated methods employed ...

This is the second time this year I feel compelled to write about the development of – or lack of – the Aphrodite gas field. This is the fifth attempt made by ...

I participated at FLAME 2024, Europe’s lead natural gas conference, in Amsterdam end April. The theme of the conference was ‘Navigating the energy trilemma’ and LNG featured prominently. A key ...

Egypt desperately needs a major gas discovery to shore up its declining production The submission of the updated development plan for the Aphrodite gasfield by Chevron at the beginning of ...

Be warned: Cyprus motorists could be hit with hikes of 25 cents/litre by the end of the year By Charles Ellinas With Cyprus finance minister announcing that he will not ...

Cyprus is blessed with abundant sunlight, yet the shift to renewable energy is painfully slow. Two recent developments highlight some of the issues. The first was a statement by EAC’...

Cyprus inability to benefit from LNG because of the Vasilikos debacle is proving to be costly European gas prices have tumbled down to levels last seen before the crisis. The ...

By Charles Ellinas That’s what the findings of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) 2023 edition of its annual ‘Democracy Index’, released mid-February, show. In contrast to Cyprus, Greece improved ...