Investment potential great in Cyprus

Despite the problems the economy is facing, Cyprus has great potential for investments, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Neoklis Sylikiotis has said. In statements to the press on Thursday after a working breakfast with the Cyprus International Business Association (CIBA) and the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), Sylikiotis stressed the significance the discovery of natural gas reserves within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has and the fact that big oil and gas companies will be arriving in Cyprus for negotiations in the context of the 2nd licensing round in blocks 2, 3, 9 and 11. The operation of big companies in Cyprus “creates the necessary economic climate which will boost investments in the area of energy, relevant sectors and other areas”. To that effect, he gave the examples of shipping and services. “The message I wish to convey is that despite the problems our economy is faced with, Cyprus has all the potential for significant investments”, he noted. Sylikiotis said that during the working breakfast ways to curb bureaucracy were discussed, noting that already certain services of the Registrar of Companies are provided electronically whilst full computerization is underway. At the same time, he announced that the ministry is looking into introducing afternoon services at the Registrar of Companies to facilitate the registration of companies. On their part President of CIBA Christodoulos Agastiniotis and President of CIBA and former Health Minister Frixos Savvides expressed their satisfaction with action taken so far to combat bureaucracy, noting that the effort must be joint and constant. Agastiniotis spoke of the need to overcome this period of uncertainty for the Cyprus economy in order for investments to flourish. On his part Savvides agreed that recent developments in the energy sector of the area will mean hundreds of new investment opportunities and the creation of new jobs in Cyprus. Exploratory drilling conducted by Huston-based Noble Energy in Block 12 of Cyprus’ EEZ revealed a gross natural gas reserve from 3 to 9 trillion cubic feet (tcf) with a 60% probability of geologic success. Noble is expected to extract and transfer to Cyprus natural gas by late 2018. The Cabinet decided on October 30 for negotiations to begin on four blocks within the Republic’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the context of the 2nd licensing round on hydrocarbons exploration. Negotiations will begin shortly with several consortiums for hydrocarbons exploration on the blocks 2, 3, 9 and 11 the participants of which include Italian ENI, South Korean KOGAS, French Total and Russian Novatec.