Posted - BRUSSELS, June 4 |
Israeli and European investors
have displayed an interest in financing a liquefied natural gas
terminal on Cyprus, the head of Cyprus's national hydrocarbons
company said on Tuesday.
Cyprus plans to build a $6 billion LNG terminal on its
southern coast to process natural gas from offshore fields now
under development. Authorities hope the prospect of gas finds
can spur growth on the recession-hit island which recently
required an EU and IMF bailout.
"We have 3 serious financial options to look into. This
makes us confident that we can start the construction of the
Vasiliko LNG plant in 2016," said Charles Ellinas, head of the
island's national hydrocarbons company, CNHC.
Ellinas,
in Brussels for a conference, told Reuters that in addition to European
and Israeli investors, investors from the "Far East" had expressed an
interest in acquiring LNG in return for an investment in the plant. A
third financing option for the terminal was project finance with energy companies licensed to search for gas, he said.
"We will hold serious discussions with investors early next
year," Ellinas said.
U.S. energy company Noble is due to start an
appraisal drilling imminently to verify a 2011 discovery of 5-8
trillion cubic feet of gas. The Ensco 5006 rig was moved into
position south-east of Cyprus earlier this week.
Two other companies, France's Total and Italy's
ENI plan drillings off Cyprus by 2015.
Post to be found at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/cyprus-natgas-financing-idUSL5N0EG1XP20130604
No comments:
Post a Comment