Cyprus Targets Gas Exports by 2028 as Iran War Chokes Hormuz Supply
By Bosphorus News Energy Desk
Cyprus's Energy Minister Michalis Damianos told Reuters on March 13 that the island aims to begin natural gas exports by 2028, framing the announcement around the supply disruptions caused by the Iran conflict. The timing was deliberate. With European warships anchored off Limassol and a security debate underway about Cyprus's place in the region's defence architecture, Nicosia is making a parallel argument: the island is a security liability requiring European protection and an energy asset Europe cannot afford to leave undeveloped. The Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas trade moves, has come to a near standstill since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28. Damianos said the crisis demonstrated that the EU cannot remain dependent on Gulf supply routes and that Eastern Mediterranean reserves should become a continental priority.
The Cronos field
The field at the centre of the plan is Cronos, located in Block 6 of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone and discovered in 2022 by Italy's Eni and France's TotalEnergies, each holding a 50 percent stake. The field is estimated to hold just over three trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to supply Cyprus's domestic needs for decades or support sustained exports to regional markets. No liquefaction terminal will be built on Cypriot soil. Gas will be piped subsea to Egypt, processed and liquefied at the Damietta LNG export facility, an existing plant currently serving Egyptian and Israeli production, and shipped primarily to European buyers.
The investment timeline
The commercial groundwork has been accumulating for months. A Host Government Agreement authorising the Egypt routing was signed in February 2025. Eni's chief operating officer Guido Brusco said in January that the company was in the final stage of its investment decision and that first gas reaching European markets by end-2027 or early 2028 was achievable if remaining documentation was closed quickly. President Nikos Christodoulides met with Eni's chief executive in Rome on February 27, one day before the Iran strikes began. Christodoulides subsequently said he expects the final investment decision to be formalised by March 30, when he is scheduled to attend the EGYPES energy summit in Cairo at the invitation of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Broader picture
Cyprus has identified between 15 and 18 trillion cubic feet of gas across six areas of its exclusive economic zone, though development has moved slowly as discoveries are spread across multiple offshore blocks, each requiring separate investment decisions. Cronos is the field closest to production. Damianos said a domestic LNG terminal has not been ruled out but would depend on larger future discoveries. Cyprus is pursuing the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electricity interconnector in parallel, a 1,208-kilometre submarine cable designated an EU Project of Common Interest that would end the island's isolation from European power networks.
The final investment decision on Cronos was already in motion before the first Iranian drone hit RAF Akrotiri. The conflict accelerated the political argument for it.