Following the – surprising for the Americans – “no” of the Republic of Cyprus to Chevron’s attempt to revise the development plan of the Aphrodite reserve, as it was agreed in 2019, the two sides entered a round of negotiations last Friday to find a consensual solution.
Under the contract, which was revised in 2019, the two sides are required to engage in negotiations lasting up to 30 days at least, to find an agreement in cases of essential disagreement over the exploitation of the field.
The negotiation process was activated by the Republic of Cyprus on Friday 25/8/23, in a letter from Energy Minister George Papanastasiou to Chevron.
In a first meeting between the two sides on Friday, in which the US giant was represented by executives of the Eastern Mediterranean operations department, there was no indication of a possible formula for an agreement, Phileleftheros reports.
However, this was not expected from the first meeting after the rejection of the American counter-proposal by the Energy Minister, in full consultation with President Christodoulides, the Cyprus Hydrocarbon Company, the Hydrocarbons Service of the Ministry of Energy but especially with the specialized French consultancy Beicip Flanlab, which has been providing consultancy services in Cyprus for the identification and exploitation of hydrocarbons since the time of the Tassos Papadopoulos administration.
According to information from Phileleftheros, a new meeting between the Cypriot side and Chevron will take place on September 5, and at a much higher level, as far as the American company is concerned.
However, no agreement is expected on September 5 either, as everything indicates that both sides are sticking to their current positions and it is not easy, nor likely, that they will back down in the near future.