Aphrodite feels the love
Cypriot energy minister Georgios Lakkotrypis issues the country’s first exploitation licence to the Aphrodite consortium to export gas to Egypt
The discussion of exactly where the gas discovered back in 2011 in Cyprus' offshore Block 12, by a consortium including US independent operator Noble Energy, would end up has loomed for almost all the 2010s. At his Nicosia office, the country's energy minister tells Petroleum Economist Middle East editor Gerald Butt that the question has now finally been resolved. What is now the way ahead for Aphrodite? Lakkotrypis: The plan is that we will transport the gas vis a subsea pipeline to Egypt, liquefying it at Idku, from where it will be shipped by Shell [another partner, along with Israel's Delek, in Aphrodite] to international markets, primarily Europe. We have spent the past 12 months or mor
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future






