Ashkenazi demand for meeting with Cypriot Foreign Minister: Settle the gas dispute in Aphrodite-Yishai reservoir • "Cyprus evades development agreement"

• Foreign Minister Ashkenazi // Photo: Oren Ben Hakun

Foreign Minister MK Gabi Ashkenazi prepares for his meeting on Tuesday with the Cypriot Foreign Minister at Ben Gurion Airport: Conditional return of Israeli tourists to Cyprus in settlement of the gas dispute in Aphrodite-Yishai reservoir. 

The request, sent to Ashkenazi yesterday and reached "Israel today," was made by Ohad Schwartz, director of Nammax Oil & Gas, a partner in the Ishay repository. "Despite repeated statements by the Israeli government in recent years to secure Israel's rights in the database, in practice the Israeli government has allowed Cyprus and its partners to evade, for almost six years, the signing of a joint development agreement," Schwartz wrote. To lead to the plundering of a national asset of the State of Israel equaled billions of shekels to the state coffers. " 

More on:

The Cypriot Foreign Minister will meet with Ashkenazi at Ben Gurion Airport

Vacation abroad? Countries moving away from Israel

Israir landed in Cyprus which opened today to tourists

Foreign Ministry officials told Israel Today that Ashkenazi and his Cypriot counterpart are expected to discuss the issue, with the aim of advancing existing draft agreements to reach formal and final agreements.

The Aphrodite-Yishai natural gas reservoir is located on the Israeli-Cyprus economic frontier, most of which is in Cyprus's economic water and its minority in Israel's economic waters. The Israeli portion of the reservoir is referred to as "Yishai" and the amount of gas in the reservoir is estimated by the Ministry of Energy at 12-10 billion cubic meters, with the potential to yield billions of shekels in state coffers, levies and various taxes.

Since Yishai's gas is part of one geological reservoir that crosses the Cyprus-Israel border, its production depends on agreements between the two states, and the extraction of gas from the reservoir unilaterally by Cyprus will inevitably result in the gas pumping in the reservoir belonging to the State of Israel.

In the meantime, a significant step was taken yesterday in the development of the shark's natural gas reservoir, with the completion of the reservoir's offshore pipeline. 

British Energy Company, which develops shark reservoir in Israel, completed last weekend the laying of the pipeline from the capacitance point on the Dor coast to the well location, about 90 km offshore, west of the Israeli coast. The pipeline, at a depth of up to 1,700 meters , Ended according to schedule.