Participation to the European Mediterranean Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Summit
Limassol, Cyprus – October 8, 2014 – OME was kindly invited to speak at the European Mediterranean Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Summit to share its views on the challenges and benefits of a gas alliance between the East Mediterranean countries.
Despite recent large scale discoveries (Tamar and Leviathan fields offshore Israel in 2009 and 2010; and Aphrodite field offshore Cyprus in 2011), the region remains one of the most under-explored or unexplored areas in the world. Therefore the region still has good prospects for additional gas, and perhaps oil, reserves. However, developing these hydrocarbons resources presents enormous technical, administrative, security, financial, legal, political and environmental challenges. Possibly the disputes over the ownership of resources and the demarcation of maritime borders are the most pressing ones.
Still, those resources offer big opportunities in terms of energy security and economic prosperity. There are good prospects for the region to emerge as a new gas corridor. OME estimates that Israel and Cyprus could potentially supply Europe with about 10 bcm/yr by next decade. Presentation was well received by participants and a vivid Q&A followed, especially on conflicts between countries in the region over the unresolved demarcation of maritime borders.