Cyprus Seeks ‘Considerable’ Stake in LNG Plant, Sylikiotis Says

Cyprus’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Neoklis Sylikiotis said the east Mediterranean island must have a “considerable” stake in a proposed liquefaction plant to export its natural gas.

“The state will participate with a considerable stake in this project,” Sylikiotis, who is also responsible for energy, said today in Athens, according to an e-mailed transcript of his speech. As construction costs will be “extremely high,” Cyprus is seeking “multiparty cooperation with the involvement of other important countries and energy giants,” he said.

Cyprus, which invited bids on Feb. 13 for a second oil and gas licensing round, announced its first gas find in December. The island is working with Israel, 300 miles (480 kilometers) south across the Mediterranean Sea, on the potential construction of a pipeline to link their gas fields before the fuel is liquefied for export to Europe or Asia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Feb. 16.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stelios Orphanides in Nicosia at sorphanides@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net