The Egyptian petroleum minister told "Reuters" on Wednesday that the massive gas find off his country's shores the Zohr reservoir will not impact its negotiations with Israel or Cyprus over the import of their neighboring natural gas reserves.
"Any negotiations between private companies in Egypt and in the eastern Mediterranean, and by this I mean Israel and Cyprus, will not stop," said Sharif Ismail to "Reuters." "These negotiations and initial agreements are ongoing."
He added that the private companies holding the talks will still require the approval of the Egyptian government to implement the agreements.
The astounding gas find in Egypt 30 trillion cubic feet clocks in at nearly 50% larger than Israel's Leviathan field, which led to gloomy speculation over the Israeli reservoir's future; many experts claimed that the discovery buried the negotiations over the Egyptian import of Israeli gas.
But Ismail insisted to "Reuters" that Egypt does not "object to the plans of private companies (which are) operating in Egypt and looking to import natural gas from eastern Mediterranean countries."
Nevertheless, Ismail clarified to "Reuters" that the government was leaning towards maintaining its newfound reservoirs for local use: "The priority is for the domestic market."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 2, 2015
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