Cyprus and Israel will try to conclude h an agreement on the distribution of the gas revenues

The Minister of Trade and Industry of Cyprus, George Papanstasio, will arrive on Wednesday for a political visit centered on the attempt to reac h an agreement on the distribution of the gas revenues from the Aphrodite-Yeshi reservoir. The minister's visit comes after announcements by the partnership from the Cypriot side of the reservoir about progress in its development.
Papanstazio will be the guest of Energy Minister Israel Katz in the coming days. The Cypriot minister's visit follows the meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidis, last month.
"The two ministers are committed to speeding up the negotiations with the aim of reaching conclusions by the end of the year," reads the announcement about the visit. They will also discuss as part of the visit the initiative of Minister Katz to lay an underwater power cable (Euro-Asia Interconnector) along the coast of Israel - to connect the power grids of Israel and Cyprus, and to connect the Israeli power grid to the European power grid.
The visit also received coverage in the foreign media where Papanstazio was credited with saying that he too is determined to reach an agreement with Israel as soon as possible. Israel and Cyprus share a long-standing alliance and a common vision. The field of energy, especially these days, is an anchor for strengthening the ties between the countries and realizing my vision of turning the State of Israel into an energy bridge between East and West that will strengthen regional stability," said the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Israel Katz, referring to the visit. "Cyprus is a key partner in realizing this vision, and I thank Minister Papanstasio for accepting my invitation, and look forward to making progress in our joint projects in the fields of natural gas and electricity," he added.
According to estimates, the amount of gas in the reservoir is 124 BCM (billion cubic meters). For more than a decade, Israel and Cyprus have been unable to reach an agreement on the distribution of the gas found in the Yishai-Aphrodite reservoir.
Most of the reservoir is in the economic waters of Cyprus and only 10% of the gas (about 12 BCM - equivalent to the annual consumption of the State of Israel) is in the economic waters of Israel. The partnership in the Israeli part of the reservoir (Namax owned by Bnei Steinmetz, Israeli Opportunity and Aden Energy) should not develop it alone, and they rely on the partnership on the Cypriot side. That is, the partners in Aphrodite will also pump the gas from Israel - and pay the Israeli partners for it. Chevron controls both the Tamar and Leviathan reservoirs as the company that actually produces the gas.