Cyprus backs multi-billion electric cable link from Europe to Mideast
Changes sourcing, adds detail paragraphs 3, 5
By Michele Kambas
NICOSIA, Sept 17 (Reuters) -Cyprus will support a multi-billion euro electric transmission cable linking the power grids of Europe to the Middle East, the country's top energy official said on Tuesday.
The so-called Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) seeks to link the transmission networks of Greece via Crete, Cyprus and eventually Israel in a project costing 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion). The project is estimated at 1.9 billion euros if it were only to extend to Cyprus.
"This project will help ease the energy isolation of Cyprus by linking the national transmission grid with the equivalent systems in Europe, boosting the energy security of our country," Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said.
On completion, it will be the longest, at 1,240 km (770.5 miles, and deepest, at 3,000 metres, high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector in the world. The European Union has said it is willing to finance part of it, which at present is expected to be complete by around 2030.
Cyprus would contribute towards the cost of the project with 25 million euros annually over a five-year period, Papanastasiou said. The amount would be drawn from revenue from carbons emissions trading.
The ambitious project touches upon a complex patchwork of overlapping jurisdiction claims between Greece, Cyprus and regional rival Turkey in the Mediterranean.
Cyprus had sought clarity over what it would pay towards the project, and what would happen if 'geopolitical risks' - an apparent reference to any potential opposition from Turkey - arose, leading to delays and possible additional costs.
"We are talking about international waters, so in this respect countries are allowed to lay pipes and cables and so forth," said Harry Tzimitras, director of the PRIO Cyprus Centre who has researched the subject.
"But there are certain areas that Turkey is claiming as its own continental shelf and that being the case, Turkey's argument is that prior consent is required," he said.
Although that claim - of prior consent - would be 'hard to sustain in the international legal order', Turkey wasn't pursuing that route, Tzimitras said.
"To my mind, the countries concerned are often less focused on legal processes; it all seems to be boiling down to political measures and to military power posturing," Tzimitras said.
Turkey had sent naval assets in June to shadow a ship carrying out cable-related survey work close to a Greek island, and has on occasion obstructed ships tasked with gas surveys offshore Cyprus.
Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Sonali Paul, Keith Weir and Deepa Babington
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