US backs Chevron in dispute with Cyprus over giant gas field

Washington has weighed into a dispute between Cyprus and international companies led by Chevron over how to develop a giant offshore gas field, backing the US company's plan to link it to neighboring Egypt, two industry sources and a US source said on Friday.

The Chevron-led consortium proposed connecting the Aphrodite gas field via a subsea pipeline and existing infrastructure to Egypt, where the gas can be sold in the domestic market or liquefied and shipped to Europe, which has largely been cut off from Russian supplies.

Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou confirmed that the government had rejected the latest plan, which omitted a previous proposal to build a floating gas processing plant at the field which lies 160 kilometers southeast of Cyprus.

"The modification has been rejected. The expectation of the Republic of Cyprus is [that] the consortium...