An East Med gas renaissance

After years of inertia, the prospects for the region's gas finally moving towards markets are improving

Sometimes even a seasoned oilman has to take a deep breath and adopt the tone and demeanour of a diplomat. This was the case recently with Luca Bertelli, head of exploration at Eni. Addressing Gulf Publishing's Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus in March, he cautioned about over-optimism in forecasting when gas exports might begin. He said "the area is geopolitically complex". You can say that again. If Bertelli and Eni didn't know it before, they certainly knew it in February when their company found itself eyeball-to-eyeball with geopolitics. Eni's drillship was prevented by the Turkish navy from reaching the target site in Cyprus' offshore Block 3. Turkey argues that