Sherif Ismail, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, revealed that talks are currently underway with Cyprus to import gas via a marine pipeline to Egypt. In a press statement, Ismail said that a delegation from the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) was sent to Cyprus to conduct technical discussions on the subject. Ismail explained that gas would be imported from Cyprus to meet the growing needs of the domestic market and achieve economic returns for the state. Ismail, who met with Cyprus's Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis last month, stated that Egypt has significant infrastructure for natural gas, which is able to receive production from Cyprus. The two ministers stressed in an earlier joint statement that they "agreed to speed up talks on Cypriot [c1] natural gas exports to Egypt". The statement added that re-exporting the gas from Egypt was an option under consideration. On his part, Lakkotrypis said "establishing a gas pipeline would be the best way to export gas from Cyprus to Egypt", adding that a technical study on exports will be completed within the next two months. In 2011, US gas and power company Noble discovered gas in the Aphrodite field in the south eastern area of Cyprus. According to estimates, reserves in the Aphrodite field range between 100-700bn cubic metres of gas.
