Cyprus: gas falls victim to unity failure
The collapse of UN-brokered talks in Switzerland to reunify the island is a setback for Cypriot offshore gas ambitions
The final days of what was likely the last effort on the part of the UN to bring the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities back together coincided with a heatwave on the island. Temperatures ventured towards 50° Celsius. By night as well as day, the mechanical throb of air-conditioning units was the ambient sound across the island. Cyprus's ambition is that one day soon the power needed to keep the island cool will come from generating stations fuelled by its own offshore natural gas, rather than expensive imported fuel oil. That day now seems a long way off. The Aphrodite field in Block 12, with 4.5 trillion cubic feet of reserves, was discovered in 2011, but still awaits development. The p
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
