Daily Sabah: Turkey cheapest way to export Cyprus gas, says former US envoy

Matthew Bryza, the U.S. Secretary of State former spokesperson and ambassador, spoke to Daily Sabah about energy tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. "Energy could play an important role in the Cyprus settlement process as "the ultimate confidence-building measure," he said.

What would you say on energy tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean?

Turkey's relations with both Israel and Cyprus are tense, which is complicating efforts to export Eastern Mediterranean natural gas via a pipeline to Turkey and the EU. Consequently, the export markets receiving attention in recent months have been Jordan (for smaller volumes), and Egypt (for larger volumes, which would be liquefied and probably shipped to the Far East, where prices are considerably higher than in Turkey or the EU). But, the economic and geopolitical benefits to all parties of exporting Eastern Mediterranean natural gas to as well as via Turkey are so strong that I anticipate the various parties will eventually find a way to reduce political tensions sufficiently to enable such an important economic project.
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