One of the two ExxonMobil research vessels scheduled to carry out explorations in block 10 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) departed from Greece on Sunday and is headed towards Limassol port, according to marinetraffic.com.

Ocean Investigator has been moored at the port of Lavrio, Greece. The second vessel Med Surveyor was still located off the port of Haifa, Israel on Sunday.

The former is expected at Limassol port in the next 48 hours.

The two ships are headed ultimately to Cyprus’ block 10. They will be deploying remotely-operated underwater vehicles which will take further readings of the seabed at three selected locations in block 10.

Their purpose is to gather more data to narrow down the most likely targets for gas drilling, which ExxonMobil is planning during the second half of the year.

ExxonMobil will reportedly be drilling two back-to-back exploratory wells in late summer or early autumn.

What remains to be seen is whether Turkey will intervene with the two survey ships heading for block 10, in the same way it blockaded ENI’s drillship Saipem 12000 recently, stopping it from carrying out its mission. Though Ankara does not lay claim to hydrocarbons in block 10, the Turkish Cypriot side has threatened that plans in all of Cyprus’ EEZ blocks would be stopped by Ankara.

According to a report in Kathimerini on Sunday, both ExxonMobil and the Cyprus government have studied closely what happened in block 3 and feel certain there will be no Turkish interference this time around, the paper said, citing sources.

All the relevant preparations have been completed in order for the two ships to reach their final destination and to proceed seamlessly with their work, the paper said.

Although speculation was rife during the week that a fleet of US warships was in the region and attempts were made to link the move to ExxonMobil’s plan, this was denied by the US navy.

Also, Turkey has issued a new navigational warning this weekend bounding the island’s east, south, and western coasts from Monday through tuso next Sunday and also from March 22 to 29.

According to the warning, which also skirts an offshore block earmarked for natural gas exploration by the republic, a Turkish warship will be towing an underwater device during that time.

Cyprus responded by issuing its own Navtex stating that Turkey’s action had not been authorised by the republic.

Source: CyprusMail

Israel expects a decision to go ahead with the construction of a 2,000 kilometre pipeline linking vast eastern Mediterranean gas resources to Europe to be made by early 2019, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters.

The pipeline, which will cross from Israel and Cyprus into Greece and Italy in deep waters, would mark a major milestone for the rapidly developing gas industry in the Levantine Basin in the east corner of the Mediterranean, offering access to a large market.

The European Union considers the pipeline, estimated to cost $7 billion, as “extremely competitive” as the four partner countries continue construction plans for the technically complex line, Steinitz told Reuters late on Wednesday on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

“This summer we will reach a detailed agreement between the four founding states of the East Med pipeline and at the beginning of 2019 we hope to see a final investment decision,” he said.

The pipeline, known as East Med, will be able to transfer between 9 to 12 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually, he said. The project owners are IGI Poseidon, a joint venture between Greece’s natural gas firm DEPA, and Italian energy group Edison.

More than 900 bcm of gas have been discovered offshore Israel while Cyprus’ Aphrodite gas field holds an additional 128 bcm. Both areas are expected to hold more reserves.

Israel, where gas consumption has risen sharply over the past decade, will have 400 to 500 bcm available to export, Steinitz said.

The vast amounts of gas discovered since the early 2000s in Israel have transformed the region’s economic reality as it signed a number of deals to sell natural gas to neighbours Jordan and Egypt.

Israel is also considering the construction of a pipeline to Turkey, where gas demand is rapidly growing, although the project appears to have stalled in recent years amid political tensions between the two countries.

“We can export to Egypt, Jordan and Turkey and still have enough extra gas for the pipeline,” he said.

Source: CyprusMail

Cyprus last week paid 312.5m to the Russian Federation as a first instalment of a €2.5bn loan agreed more than six years ago and restructured in 2013, a finance ministry source said.

The loan, agreed in late 2011 by the government of former president Demetris Christofias, which lost access to financial markets and was trying to avoid requesting a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will be repaid in eight biannual instalments of €312.5m. The next payment is scheduled in September.

The Russian loan accounted in September for 13 per cent of the total public debt of €18.8bn, according to the latest available figures on the website of the Public Debt Management Office.

As part of the initial loan agreement, Cyprus had to pay a 4.5 per cent annual interest on the borrowed amount and repay it in one instalment in 2016. The restructuring of the loan provided for a reduction of the interest rate to 2.5 per cent and the extension of the repayment period to 2021.

In November, the government which last year generated a budget surplus of €360.7m on a cash basis, also made a €614.9m payment against a loan from the Central Bank of Cyprus, reducing the debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio below the 100 per cent mark.

Source: CyprusMail

ExxonMobil`s top priority is the safety of its vessels` crews and of others in the Eastern Mediterranean, its spokeswoman Suann Guthrie has told CNA, asked about the company`s exploration drilling operations in Cyprus` Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

"Our plan is to drill two exploration wells starting in second half 2018," Guthrie noted, adding that "part of the preparation is acquiring the relevant permits, which includes collecting environmental data using survey vessels."

"We expect the surveys to be concluded within the next couple of months. Our top priority is the safety of the crews conducting the survey and of others in the area," she concluded.

The Cyprus government and the consortium of companies ExxonMobil Corporation and Qatar Petroleum signed in April 2017 the exploration and production sharing contract for Block 10 of the Republic of Cyprus EEZ.

Source: Stockwatch

After almost a year, MPs on Monday resumed discussion of a government bill providing for the creation of a National Investment Fund to manage future hydrocarbons proceeds.

The bill, drafted by the finance ministry, was submitted to parliament in June 2016; the first discussions in parliament got underway in mid-September of that year. The last time the bill was discussed was in May 2017. The International Monetary Fund had been consulted during the bill’s preparation.

Averof Neophytou, chair of the House finance committee, told reporters that a different format has been decided going forward: rather than MPs submitting their amendments to the bill at the House plenum, as per normal legislative procedure, the committee would now be discussing the amendments exhaustively before the item goes to the House floor.

MPs have been given a week to submit any additional amendments to the bill, he said. The amendments are to be immediately relayed to the finance ministry, which will provide its own feedback, after which a final discussion will be held in committee before a vote takes place at the plenum.

According to Neophytou, the fund’s revenues are primarily geared at future generations of all Cypriot citizens – Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as the religious minorities.

But responding to questions, he dismissed the notion that the impetus for revisiting the bill were the recent events in Cyprus’ economic waters, where Turkey prevented the drilling of a gas well and with Turkish Cypriots now calling for joint exploration and exploitation of offshore hydrocarbons.

For the finance committee, Neophytou said, there is no linkage with that issue. The investment fund for hydrocarbons was significant, whether there is a solution of the Cyprus problem or not.

The Disy MP added that, at any rate, proceeds from hydrocarbons should not be expected for a while yet, given that a commercial agreement for developing the Aphrodite field – holding an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – is still pending.

For his part, Diko deputy Angelos Votsis said the hydrocarbons fund has been designed on the basis of the Norwegian model.

Main opposition Akel reiterated that absent from the bill is any clause relating to the state channelling revenues to hydrocarbons-related infrastructures.

Under certain circumstances, the government will be able to use part of the revenues to reduce government debt and for other purposes.

The bill stipulates that as long as public debt is above 80 per cent of GDP, half the hydrocarbons revenue would go towards reducing this debt. When it is below 80 per cent but above the limit of 60 per cent – set by the Maastricht criteria – only 25 per cent of revenue would go towards the public debt and the rest would be used for the creation of reserves.

Last month Turkish warships, on the pretext of conducting military exercises in international waters, prevented a drillship from reaching its target in offshore block 3.

The rig, contracted by Italian oil major ENI, eventually withdrew and the planned drilling was cancelled.

Source: CyprusMail

Only a fraction of the €118m raised from the sale of Cyta Hellas to Vodafone will end up in the coffers of the parent company, the state-run telecoms corporation said on Monday.

Speaking in parliament, Cyta chairwoman Rena Rouvitha said that of the €118m, €18.5m would go toward paying off current outstanding liabilities of the Greece-based subsidiary to third parties.

Of the remaining €100m going on Cyta’s books, €57.5m will be used to immediately recoup the loans (subsidies) made to Cyta Hellas by the parent company over the years.

The House finance committee heard that Cyta’s budget for 2018 stood at €393m.

Lawmakers posed a series of questions to Cyta officials and are awaiting the responses before approving the organisation’s budget for 2018.

Among other issues, MPs sought further details on the deal to sell Cyta’s subsidiary to Vodafone.

They also requested information about Cyta’s older agreement with LTV, and also quizzed Cyta as to why it has retained the same law firm as its legal advisor since 1965.

MPs additionally wanted to know about the state of the organisation’s provident fund.

Rouvitha said that in 2017 Cyta posted a €22.3m accounting profit from the sale of its prior investment in the Nicosia City Mall.

The state telecoms corp had invested some €30m from its provident into the project, but in late 2017 Cyta sold its stake in the planned mall to Bank of Cyprus.

This transaction generated a net positive for Cyta, Rouvitha said.

The earnings would help towards plugging the deficit in the provident fund.

Grilled by MPs, Rouvitha said Cyta had sustained a 5.5 per cent reduction in revenues from telecoms services.

The company is seeking to boost revenues from alternative sources, she added.

Disy MP Onoufrios Koullas said Cyta’s revenues in 2018 are projected to decline by €20m – which raised questions over the company’s viability.

Akel deputy Stefanos Stefanou stressed that Cyta must remain a public utility.

From 2002 to 2015, the company’s dividend payouts to the state amounted to €750m, he added.

Source: CyprusMail

Would you move to Cyprus to start your own business? A new study sheds some light on what you should consider.

Cyprus is number 32 on a list of the 57 best countries to move to if you’re young and want to be your own boss, according to a study by Expert Market, a leading UK B2B comparison site.

“With analysts predicting that freelance employers will comprise the majority of workforces in both the UK and US by 2020, Expert Market’s study is the first to determine the countries promising the best setups for people who want to pack in the traditional office and start making a living as their own boss,” the study says.

The research investigates economic and lifestyle factors in 57 countries around the world by cross-referencing data on the cost of living, average internet speeds, the quality of the transport system, number of free wifi spots, the cost of a cup of coffee, individual income tax rates as well as the ease of starting a business and access to credit. Individual rankings from these factors were then combined to determine the best places for young people eager to be their own boss in 2018.

For Cyprus, some of the results will astonish those living here. For example, it came first in terms of access to credit, while the cost of a cup of coffee was listed as the ninth cheapest out of the 57 countries.

Other results are more predictable.

“While Cyprus scored well for some factors in the study, there were areas were the country struggled. Cyprus’ high cost of living, (31st), slow internet speeds (39th) and poor access to wifi (42nd) pushed the country down our list,” said Lucy Crossfield, the lead researcher from Expert Market.

“Obviously these factors would have a huge impact on someone wanting to work remotely, so these are the aspects to address if Cyprus wants to compete for the influx of young people we can see looking to move abroad and work freelance.”

The access to credit from domestic banks to the private sector has been calculated as a percentage of GDP by the World Bank. In 2016, Cyprus came first with 227.3 per cent, way ahead of any other country.

Cyprus scores 60.32 on the living index, which is based on New York City being 100, meaning living expenses in Cyprus are 60 per cent of those of the American city which makes it relatively high among the 57 countries.

When it comes to individual income tax rates, Cyprus’ 35 per cent is average. In the United Arab Emirates people don’t pay any income tax, but the rate can reach as high as 61 per cent in places like Sweden.

Transport was measured for its sustainability. The score is based on data taken from the World Economic Forum and includes a range of metrics including the quality of the air, road, port and railroad infrastructure in each city. Cyprus’ score of 4.3 or 43 per cent is one of the poorer ones, while Hong Kong with 65 per cent has the best public transport system of any country used in the study, making it easy and affordable for millennials to get around when working remotely.

Expat haven Hong Kong is overall the best place to be self-employed when you are young and bored with the 9 to 5 office life, according to the study.

The former British colony scored in the top three for personal income tax rate which is a manageable 15 per cent and is placed in the top five in terms of ease of starting a fully fledged business.

As the report says, with flights out to many popular southeast Asian hotspots in less than four hours, young professionals can enjoy the flexibility of doing a few hours work in the morning and then heading off to explore an entirely new country by the evening.

The researchers explained to the Sunday Mail why they chose these 57 countries and excluded others.

“To give the most comprehensive view of the freelance environment in each place, countries were selected by the data available but we cross-referenced the list against countries ranked by GDP to ensure that the majority of the world’s biggest economies were listed. Any countries where data was missing was discounted from the study,” outreach manager Jessica Laporte said.

Source: CyprusMail

Limassol-based rating agency Capital Intelligence has affirmed Cyprus’ long-term and short-term foreign currency sovereign rating at BB- and B and placed it on ‘positive’ outlook, upgrading from previously ‘stable’ amid risks related to high indebtedness.

The better than expected performance of the island’s economy – which last year is projected to have expanded 3.9 per cent – and public finances, expected to allow “public debt to decline at a faster pace than already envisaged” is behind decision to place the outlook on positive, Capital Intelligence said.

The economy is expected to grow at a rate about 3 per cent this year and in 2019, the rating company said.

Still “risks to the economic outlook remain considerable,” it said, adding that the private debt compared to the economic output stood at 259 per cent which “is extremely large”.

“The banking crisis has restricted the country’s medium-term growth prospects and severely constrained access to credit for local businesses,” Capital Intelligence said.

Capital Intelligence also cited the government’s satisfactory access to finance and the gradually improving conditions in the banking sector in revising the rating’s outlook to positive.

“Bank balance sheets have improved further,” allowing banks to regain depositor confidence five years after the banking crisis, it said. “Total deposits in the banking system were 4 per cent higher in November 2017 compared to November 2016, with resident deposits up by 6.2 per cent, while the non-performing loan ratio was lower at 44.1 per cent in the first half of 2017, compared to 46.4% in 2016.

“Provisioning also improved to 47.1 per cent of non-performing loans in the first six months of 2017, compared to 42.3 per cent in 2016,” it said. “Despite these improvements, the outlook for the banking sector hinges on addressing the still very high level of non-performing loans and on fully implementing certain reforms, especially concerning foreclosure”.

Source: CyprusMail

The Ministry of Finance has raised €9,04 million through a six-year bond issue for natural persons 3rd Series (March 2018), the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) said in a press release.
 
The PDMO said that it received 140 applications for a total amount of €9,041,300, noting that all the applications were submitted by local investors.  All of them were accepted, the PDMO added. The application period ended on 20 February 2018. 

The Public Debt Management Office said that the issue of six year bonds of the Republic of Cyprus for natural persons will continue with the 4th Series with a filing period from 1 st to 20 th March 2018.

Source: StockWatch

Add bursts of bright color, energetic patterns, and lively springtime motifs to your home to effortlessly transition it into spring.

Carve out a sunny nook to refresh and recharge with a mini tabletop greenscape. A tray table makes it easy to move plants near a window's natural light. Place plants that share light and watering needs but vary in texture and color for a fresh spring display in a glass terrarium.

A gallon of paint is among the easiest tools for changing a space. Choose a springtime color, like this room's soft violet, that makes you feel happy; paint an accent wall or the whole room. For a more substantial yet still easy makeover, start with two new accents for the room, such as window treatments, chairs, a light fixture, or a rug. Match a paint color to your new duds, and with just three things, you can have a brand-new room.

Bring a spare birdbath indoors to create living artwork. A shallow model can hold just enough soil to make a pretty display of moss, spring-flowering bulbs, and pussy willow branches. It's the perfect miniature garden to enjoy indoors before your outdoor landscape blooms.

Sometimes all you need to update a room for a new season is a fresh window treatment. Use a pretty, floral-pattern Roman shade to turn a window into a work of art.

A symmetrical grouping of flower prints turns a blank wall space into a conversation piece. With a few simple supplies, you can make a series of botanical prints like these, customized to your color and style preferences.

Inject pattern into a room with wallpaper for a fresh and easy update. Peel-and-stick options make the job easier, and removable wallpaper makes changes a cinch later on.

A simple pair of floral panels moves with little effort and filters light. Lest you think sheers come only in plain white, check out today's options, including pretty pale colors and punchy patterns such as the floral shown here. Curtain clips make it easy to hang and replace later.

Evoking tabletop conservatories of old, a pretty wooden birdcage makes a fanciful three-dimensional frame for a seasonal display. Set an upbeat mood in an entry with a vibrant-color cage holding a feather nest and faux eggs or a small flower arrangement.

Allow your home decor to blossom with hints of garden-fresh greens. Start small by painting the bases of a pair of table lamps, or opt for a more dramatic display of green by reupholstering dining room chairs.

Tip the style scale on a basic living room by updating an existing rug with a dose of notched-up pastels. Use painter's tape on an inexpensive sisal rug to create clean outlines of your desired geometric pattern. Apply interior latex paint with a paintbrush or foam roller.

Ready-made carved ceiling rosettes make an impressive eye-level wall display. Painted in graduated shades of yellow, the disks add style to a living room. Made of urethane and available at most home centers they are lightweight and easy to hang.

Add pattern to a headboard by wrapping it with a yard of mod floral fabric. Adorn bare walls with inexpensive album frames filled with patterned paper to tie in your color scheme. Add glitz to an existing bedside table with metallic paint.

A collection of eggcups lined up in rows makes an attractive organizing tool on a desk. Fill the cups with small desk needs such as paper clips and stamps, cut flowers, or hard candies.

Create a casual living room that sings "spring" and brims with juicy citrus colors. Add brightly colored vases, spunky patterned pillows and rugs, and flea market finds to your space for a fresh feel without spending a fortune.

Source:BetterHome