The way to achieve stability and efficient hydrocarbon exploitation is for all the countries around the Eastern Mediterranean to cooperate, US Under-secretary of State Amos Hochstein has said, the Independent Balkan News Agency reports.
Hochstein whose office holds responsibility for Energy Diplomacy said that the key element to benefiting from natural gas found offshore Cyprus was cooperation.
He added that the most economical way of marketing and transporting gas was to concentrate efforts on using the existing infrastructure.
The US official said that the best way to solve issues of transporting fuel to Europe was to take the broad approach by “looking at the Eastern Mediterranean in its whole, from Israel to Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, Greece and possibly in the future perhaps Lebanon”.
Acknowledging the current political difficulties Hochstein noted that all the above-mentioned countries had mutual interests in hydrocarbons.
“The more we cooperate, [the more] it contributes to better results for the stability, security and prosperity in the region”, he said.
Referring specifically to Cypriot gas reserves, Hochstein said that they were still at the initial stages of exploration and would need to wait for the results of drilling carried out by the ENI/KOGAS.
He concluded that the Eastern Mediterranean could be a source of supply for global markets but mainly for Europe.
