Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis has said that ENI representatives in Cyprus assured him during a meeting they had on Friday morning that the company’s commitment in Cyprus is a given.

Lakkotrypis was replying to journalists’ questions on statements by ENI’s CEO Claudio Descalzi on drillings in Cyprus, on the sidelines of a Youth Entrepreneurship event.

AFP quoted Descalzi replying to journalists questions yesterday that:"I am not worried... (but) if someone turns up with warships, I won't drill wells."
 
He said he had the opportunity to discuss this specific matter with the company’s representatives in Cyprus during a meeting he convened this morning so that they can explain the context in which Descalzi’s statements were made.

Without wishing to speak on his behalf, Lakkotrypis said, “it seems that Descalzi was replying to a question on whether Turkey’s escalated provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean region worry him and if you see his reply, he said that they do not worry him and he continued to say certainly that they do not wish for any incident to occur.”

The Cypriot Minister added that a company representative told him that Descalzi’s reference concerned the safety of the company’s employees.
 
Lakkotrypis reiterated that ENI’s commitment in Cyprus is a given and he said that this is reflected from the fact that preparations for the company’s exploration programme are going ahead normally, while contracts have been signed for the drill ship which will perform the TOTAL – ENI drillings.

Asked whether Ankara can take advantage of statements such as Descalzi’s  to send warships and prevent Cyprus’ energy programme, he noted that there is no doubt that the less said, the better.

“Right now, we know the planning, the window within which the drillings will start, we know the targets selected, but we simply choose not to say anything,” he said.

He continued pointing out that he has asked the companies to be very careful in the way they reply to specific questions, since the matter is of great interest both in and outside Cyprus.

Asked when the drill ship will start its operations, he said that it is expected to start at the end of this year, beginning of next year and that they expect for the date to be defined with precision.

It is important to keep EuroAsia interconnector cables compatible

Referring to the EuroAsia Interconnector and an interview at CNA of Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Costis Hadjidakis, Lakkotrypis said that recently the Cypriot side had made an effort to keep the Euro-Asia Interconnector whole, that is to say all three parts of the connection Israel – Cyprus, Cyprus – Crete and Crete – Attica to remain a single joint interest project.

The Greek side, he added, decided that she wants to keep the part concerning the connection between Crete and Attica as a national project and did not need any funding, just as Greece’s Energy Minister said, due to the urgency about Crete’s energy security.

Since the Greek side insisted to leave the part concerning Crete – Attica as a national project, he said, “our priorities were firstly to maintain the part of Israel to Cyprus and Cyprus to Crete as an EU joint interest project, that is to say that it can be funded, something which we achieved with the most recent list and secondly, it is equally important to guarantee the inter-operability of the two cables.”

He explained that what he means is that the cables are compatible and said that technical discussions are ongoing on the matter with the Greek side “to achieve just that.”

181 approved projects in youth entrepreneurship
 
The Cypriot Minister also spoke about the approvals granted for 181 youth entrepreneurship projects.

The ministry he noted has implemented schemes of the order of €113.5 million from a total fund of €120 million between 2014 – 2020. Schemes on the remaining €6.5 million will be announced in the coming days, he added.