The Eastern Mediterranean gas hub takes shape. Eni, Cyprus and Egypt have signed an agreement that will bring more gas to Europe and will allow you to be less and less dependent on that coming from Russia.
The agreement was signed in Cairo and plans to develop the Cipriota Cronos deposits, extract, transport it and treat it in the Egyptian infrastructure of Zohr, and then be liquefied in the LNG of Damietta, of which Eni holds 50%, and exported towards Europe. Cronos, discovered off the coast of Cyprus in 2022, has an estimated capacity of over 85 billion cubic meters of gas. To get an idea in 2024 Italy consumed about 60 billion cubic meters of gas in all.
And there is not only this deposit. The so -called block 6 of the island also includes other resources during the exploration phase, including Zeus (always discovered in 2022). The CEO of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, said: “This agreement allows you to bring the cypriot gas to the market in a timely manner, contributing to the energy safety and the competitiveness of the supplies”, commented Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, who It has been present in Cyprus since 2013 with three other active exploratory sites and since 1954 in Egypt.
The gas hub in the Mediterranean, hoped for by Mario Draghi and commitment by the Meloni government, is a response to the urgency of Europe to free himself from the addiction to Russian gas, but not only. The Moscow contribution of the energy needs dropped from 40% to 8% in 2023. But to do this, the European Union had to increase the import of liquefied gas. In the first half of 2024, 44% came from Qatar, 33% from the United States and 15% from the Algeria. In addition to the axis with Egypt and Cyprus, so that it is working on energy cooperation with Albania, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and other States of North Africa. This will allow to diversify the sources of supply and also to reduce dependence on expensive American liquefied natural gas.
The agreement signed between Eni, Cyprus and Egypt marks a crucial step towards the realization of the gas hub in the eastern Mediterranean and Italy is confirmed as a central actor in the new international energy map.
