European consumers could see natural gas from an undersea deposit off Cyprus reaching their markets as early as March 2028, according to the island nation's energy minister, Michael Damianos.

The East Mediterranean is rapidly becoming an alternative energy supplier for European nations, Damianos said, as Russia's war in Ukraine and instability in the Middle East push the continent to diversify its energy sources. The European Union has been working to reduce its dependence on Russian gas since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when Russia supplied roughly 40% of the bloc's gas imports.

"It's important for Europe at this time because of the war in Ukraine, because of this situation in the Middle East, that Cyprus is going to be an alternative source of gas," Damianos told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Friday.

French energy major TotalEnergies and Italy's Eni reached a final investment decision last month to develop the Cronos natural gas field off Cyprus' southern coast. The project marks the first time gas from eastern Mediterranean deposits will be supplied to European markets.

Under the Eni-TotalEnergies consortium timetable, construction of a pipeline from Cronos to existing infrastructure at Egypt's massive Zohr natural gas deposit — located 105 kilometers (65 miles) away — will begin later this year and take up to 18 months to complete. The gas will then be transported to the Damietta processing facility on Egypt's northern shore, where it will be liquefied and shipped to Europe.

Routing Cronos gas through Egypt for processing was determined to be the most economically viable option. The approach costs approximately $2 billion (1.73 billion euros), roughly half the estimated cost of developing other gas fields within Cypriot waters, thanks to its proximity to existing infrastructure. Egypt has positioned itself as a regional gas hub in recent years, leveraging the Zohr field — the largest gas discovery in the Mediterranean — and its existing liquefaction terminals to process and re-export gas from neighboring countries, including Israel.

Although the agreement designates all of Cronos' more than 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas for European markets, a clause in the deal allows approximately one-fifth of that volume to be diverted toward Egypt's domestic energy needs.

"It's a small reserve," Damianos acknowledged. "Our income as a country is not going to be huge, so its importance is not the money, its importance the commencement of being a producer and having first gas."

Cronos is one of six natural gas deposits discovered so far within Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone off its southern coastline. Two others — Glaucus and Pegasus — jointly hold an estimated 6.9 tcf. ExxonMobil, partnered with QatarEnergy and licensed to develop those fields, expects gas from Glaucus and Pegasus to begin flowing by 2033.

"What we can say that Exxon is the type of company that sticks by the timelines and sometimes delivers even earlier," Damianos noted.

The energy minister also said ExxonMobil intends to expand its exploration activities off Cyprus and is expected to receive an additional hydrocarbon exploration license.

The Aphrodite field — the first discovered off Cyprus approximately 15 years ago — holds an estimated 5.6 tcf. Damianos said a final investment decision by a Chevron-led joint venture to develop the field is anticipated in the summer of 2027. Under an agreement with Chevron, a pipeline will link the deposit directly to Egyptian facilities to help meet that country's domestic energy requirements.

A portion of the Aphrodite field extends into Israeli waters, and an arbitrator is expected to determine the percentage Israel is entitled to by next month. Israel itself has become a gas producer and exporter following major discoveries at the Leviathan and Tamar fields, which have strengthened the eastern Mediterranean's emergence as a gas-producing region.

Damianos also welcomed the entry of French investment firm Meridiam as a backer of the Great Seas Interconnector project, an undersea electricity cable designed to link Europe's power grid with Cyprus and, eventually, Israel. The project would end the energy isolation of both Cyprus and Israel while serving as a key component of the IMEC initiative — a proposed energy and trade route connecting to the Gulf and India that the European Union is actively pursuing.

However, the interconnector project is currently entangled in bureaucratic disputes over its actual cost, which has exceeded an earlier estimate of $2.2 billion. A forthcoming European Investment Bank report, expected within the next few months, should provide clarity on the final figure.

The cost question is critical for Cyprus: under an existing agreement, Cypriot energy consumers could be responsible for as much as 63% of the cable's construction costs, translating into a significant increase in electricity prices. Damianos said additional private investment is being sought to ease the burden on Cypriot consumers, while further EU funding is also under consideration.

The EU has already committed $760 million (658 million euros) to the project.

"It's a very important project for Europe because it connects Cyprus which is isolated to the European grid. And the idea is to then proceed and connect to Israel," Damianos said.