The natural gas reserves of the Southeast Mediterranean can provide a transitional solution to the issue of Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas, Chairman of Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority Andreas Poullikkas has said.
Poullikkas was speaking was speaking at the 17th European Energy Conference of the International Energy Economy Organization (IAEE) on the future of global energy systems, which takes place in Athens on 21 to 24 September 2022.
The conference was also attended by CERA Vice-President Filippos Filippou and Member of the Authority Neophytos (Akis) Hadjigeorgiou.
According to an announcement issued by CERA, in the context of the Conference, Dr. Poullikkas was invited as an honorary speaker at the Plenary entitled “Transition to Green Energy during the Unprecedented Energy Crisis: Time to Go Back or Go Forward?” which was held on September 22, 2022. Poullikkas had the opportunity to speak about the current Energy Crisis, the opportunities as well as threats to the energy transition.
The Chairman of CERA said that the energy crisis has to do with the shrinking of available energy resources in an economy. The big question, as he put it, concerns the case of today’s energy crisis. According to Poullikkas, Europe is paying today a high price for its dependence on Russian natural gas. Today Europe is in an energy crisis, not an oil crisis but a “natural gas crisis”, he added.
Russia, he said, in response to sanctions imposed after the invasion to Ukraine, has steadily started to cut off supplies of natural gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and power industry, resulting in a rapid hike of energy bills across the Europe. In response, he went on to say, the European Commission presented the RePowerEU plan to end Europe’s dependence on Russian gas as soon as possible. In fact, this response is an attempt by Europe to accelerate its energy transition strategy, he noted.
CERA Chairman analysed the existence of natural gas reserves in the Southeast Mediterranean area, as well as the strong interest in renewable energy investments. In particular, he said that these natural gas reserves can provide a transitional solution for Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas until the completion of the energy transition.
He added that the development and adoption of a joint strategic plan, which will take into account, among other things, the connection of the countries of the Southeast Mediterranean with European countries through electricity interconnections, such as the Euroasia and Euroafrica interconnections, the connection of the countries of the Southeast Mediterranean with European countries through natural gas pipelines and/or virtual natural gas pipelines, such as the EastMed project, is imperative.
