Investment Energy Summit: Greece, Cyprus, Israel - The Economist Conferences

From: 28.03.2012 To: 29.03.2012Share

Divani Apollon Palace & Spa Hotel, Vouliagmeni, Athens 
March 28-29, 2012

The Investment Energy Summit's objective is to enlighten each aspect ofGreece's, Cyprus's and Israel's collaboration on issues regarding thestrategy of the new energy landscape.

Memorandum of collaboration on energy issues shall be signed by Greek Minister George Papaconstantinou, Cypriot Minister Praxoula Antoniadou Kyriacou and Israeli Minister Uzi Landau on the occasion of the international Economist Investment Energy Summit, scheduled to take place on March 28-29 2012 at the Divani Apollon Palace & Spa Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Athens.

The conference is being held under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change and the Cypriot Ministry of Industry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

Ambassador Richard Morningstar, Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, US Department of State will be addressing the official luncheon of the conference.

The status of energy exploration and its geostrategic significance for the region shall be thoroughly discussed during the sessions of the 2-day event, as well as the prospects of the transportation of natural gas, in the light of the creation of a third pole of Europe's energy supply.
 
The conference shall further focus on the re-design of the European energy map, with emphasis on investment potentiality, as well on the geopolitical dimensions. The issue of the Exclusive Economic Zones is also included in the agenda.
 
Challenges in the field of Renewable Energy Sources, as well as latest developments on international energy projects (ITGI, IGB, SOUTHSTREAM, NABUCCO, TAP) will also be discussed.

More than 40 speakers from Greece and abroad will participate in the conference.
 
Topics to be covered include:

• The Economist's forecast on energy
• The status of energy exploration and its geostrategic significance for the region
• Energy exploration in Greece: where and when?
• Exclusive Economic Zones: a necessity or not?
• Greece, Cyprus, Israel: Infrastructure projects for the transportation of natural gas. Pipeline or LNG?
• Natural gas pipelines: ITGI, IGB, SOUTH STREAM, NABUCCO, TAP
• Overcoming the challenges of exporting Middle Eastern gas to Europe
• Recent developments in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
• Russia's future strategy
• Energy market liberalisation: significant developments
• Market structure, networks and increased penetration of renewable energy sources
• Environmental sustainability  
• Waste management for energy purposes
• Financing energy projects

Please find below further information about:

• Agenda
• Speakers
• Fees and Registration

Lead Sponsor: IGI Poseidon
Main Sponsor: ΔΕΗ (Public Power Corporation)
Conference Sponsor: Marfin Popular Bank, Noble Energy, Siemens, DESFA 
Sponsor: On Telecoms
Contributors: M&M Gas, Protergia, Hyperion Systems Engineering, Metaxas & Associates
Communication Sponsor: I KATHIMERINI
Supplier of Courier Services: DHL
Internet Communication Sponsors: kathimerini.gr, EuroCharity, energypress.gr
IT sponsor: Sieben
Supported by the Greek Israeli Chamber of Commerce and Technology and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).

Greece-Cyprus-Israel Cooperation Memorandum

Greece, Cyprus and Israel will sign a memorandum of cooperation on energy issues at the end of this month, Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister George Papaconstantinou announced during a press conference yesterday. The memorandum will address issues such as the linkage of the electricity grids of the three countries and the prospects of cooperation in the transportation of natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe via Greece.

The minister also announced plans for further surveys in 10-12 areas of mainland Greece, including Evros, Kavala, Serres, Thessaloniki, Grevena, Aitoloakarnania, Messinia, Achaia and possibly Crete. The same "open-door" procedure will be used for the tender regarding seismic surveys in those regions, as in the four areas that generated interest by eight of the industry’s international leading companies.

Environment, Energy and Climate Change Ministry: Press Release (in Greek)

Greece, Israel, Cyprus eye gas exports in future By DEREK GATOPOULOS |

VOULIAGMENI, Greece (AP) — Energy Ministers from Greece,Israel and Cyprus promised Wednesday to increase cooperation to exploit natural gas deposits in the Mediterranean, but warned that large-scale exports could take a decade.

Greece, whose economy has been ravaged by a financial crisis, hopes to eventually start its own gas production and act as a transit point for supplies from Israel and Cyprus. It has no plans, however, to abandon more advanced gas projects it is involved with in Azerbaijan and Russia.

At a meeting near Athens, Cypriot Industry Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis said the three countries were more likely to share gas-produced electricity, using undersea cables, before exports were possible.

"With the most modest calculations, a period of eight years or more is required (for exports)," Sylikiotis told an energy conference at this seaside resort.

"Undersea (gas) pipelines is a more difficult process, but of course laying undersea electricity cables is easier."

On the sidelines of the conference, Greece and Israel signed a water management cooperation agreement. Greek energy ministry officials said talks for a planned energy cooperation deal between Greece, Israel and Cyprus were close to completion.

In 2007, Greece and Turkey inaugurated a pipeline that provided the EU with its first natural gas from the Caspian region, bypassing Russia and the Middle East.

Greece receives two-thirds of its natural gas from Russia and has expressed interest in being connected to a new pipeline, the proposed South Stream project, which would transport Russian natural gas to Europe under the Black Sea.

Cooperation with Cyprus and Israel would help lighten the region's dependence on Russia.

"The geopolitical conversation has changed: We are not only taking about the Russian corridor and the corridor that brings Azeri gas. In the coming years, we will have third corridor, from the proven deposits of Israel and Cyprus as well as the ones we hope to find in Greece," Greek Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou said.

"The crisis must be met with initiatives."

Israel's Energy Minister Uzi Landau said its discovery of offshore natural gas has major implications for it's long term security, given ongoing bloody revolts in the Middle East.

"At the moment two major natural gas fields have been identified ... both of them will suffice for Israel's needs for 50-60, some say 70, years," Landau said.

"In the Middle East, that is now caught in a tremendous earthquake, stretching from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf and beyond, the axis of Greece, Cyprus and Israel will provide an anchor of stability — and stability is highly important."

The United States welcomed Mediterranean gas finds as a source of diversified energy supply for Europe, a senior U.S. envoy said, urging countries in the region to set aside their long-standing rivalries and do business.

"Gas in the eastern Mediterranean is a good thing," said Richard Morningstar, a U.S. energy envoy for Europe and Asia.

"There are multiple pots of gold out there in the eastern Mediterranean and if equitable solutions are found, all of the countries and their citizens will gain," he said.

Turkish jets chase Israeli plane over Cyprus – reports

TURKEY accused Israel on Thursday of violating the airspace of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus in a controversial oil and gas exploration area.

The Israeli aircraft “violated” the northern Cyprus’s airspace five times in Monday’s incident which saw Turkish fighter jets chase out the intruder, the army command said in a statement.

The airspace violations reportedly occured between 11:05 a.m. and 12:49 p. m., and lasted a total of eigth minutes.

It gave no other details about the incident nor the type of Israeli plane involved in the alleged incursion over the breakaway statelet, which is recognized only by Ankara.

Reports suggest that since Monday, extra air patrols from the Lefkoniko (Gecitkale) airbase are being conducted over the occupied areas. Lefkoniko is the main airfield of the Turkish Cypriot Security Force and is also used by Turkish Army Aviation.

Turkey’s relations with Israel have soured since Israeli commandos in 2010 stormed a Turkish ship carrying activists trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, killing nine Turks.

GAS SHIP

Last September, low-flying Israeli warplanes and helicopters “harassed” a Turkish ship exploring for natural gas reserves near Cyprus, according to Turkish media reports.

Today’s Zaman reported that two F-15 jets took off from Tel Aviv and flew through the airspace of both The Republic of Cyprus and Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus. The jets reportedly ignored warnings from officials of Turkish Cyprus.

BASE

In March the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said he convinced that Cyprus and Israel are discussing setting up an Israeli military base near Paphos, despite the fact that both sides deny reports on the issue.

Eroglu also said that Israel was now being used as a ‘tool’ in the ongoing Cyprus dispute and any moves to station military aircraft in Cyprus would only serve to exacerbate tensions in the region.

Rumours that Israel had requested use of the base have been circulating for several months, and the request is understood to have been discussed at a meeting between the Cypriot Minister of Defence and his Israeli counterpart.

Source: famagusta-gazette.com