In a significant move to enhance the Eastern Mediterranean's energy profile, Egypt and Cyprus signed crucial agreements on Monday aimed at exporting gas from Cyprus's offshore fields to Egypt for liquefaction and re-export to Europe. The signing took place at the 2025 Egypt Energy Show.

The agreements formalize plans to link Cypriot gas reserves to Egypt’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, leveraging Egypt’s well-established facilities to process and ship natural gas to European markets. This development is expected to position the Eastern Mediterranean as a critical energy hub.

Under the new deals, gas extracted from Cyprus’s Cronos Block 6—licensed to a consortium led by Italy’s Eni and France’s Total—will be processed at Egypt's Zohr facilities before being liquefied at Damietta and exported to Europe. A separate memorandum of understanding (MoU) provides a framework for processing gas from Cyprus's Aphrodite field, licensed to a Chevron-led consortium. This gas will also be sent to Egypt for liquefaction and export.

The Eastern Mediterranean region has seen significant gas discoveries in recent years, and Europe’s need to secure alternative energy supplies has intensified since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These developments have elevated the region’s strategic importance in global energy markets.

Cyprus’s Presidential office emphasized that the agreements go beyond energy extraction to deepen cooperation with Egypt, promoting regional stability and enhancing Cyprus’s geopolitical standing in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Cypriot officials estimate that gas from Cronos Block 6 could be operational by 2026 or 2027, with an estimated reserve of over 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf). The Aphrodite field holds an estimated 3.5 tcf of gas, with production expected to commence by 2031, according to a consortium member, Israel’s NewMed.

In a recent stock exchange filing, NewMed revealed that the MoU outlines Egypt’s national gas company, EGAS, as the sole buyer of Aphrodite’s gas. The partners will also have the option to purchase specific quantities of gas sold to EGAS as LNG.

This agreement provides a much-needed lift for Egypt, which has faced declining domestic gas production and returned to being a net importer of natural gas last year. To address domestic demand, Egypt recently signed $3 billion worth of LNG supply deals with Shell and TotalEnergies for 2025.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has reiterated the importance of ramping up production at Egypt’s Zohr gas field, where Eni has resumed drilling after production dropped to 1.9 billion cubic feet per day in early 2024.

The new agreements underscore Egypt and Cyprus’s commitment to strengthening their energy partnership and securing the Eastern Mediterranean’s position as a vital energy corridor to Europe.