Is there political manoeuvring to control Cyprus' gas?

(By Elias Hazou - Cyprus Mail) - The Cyprus government aims to appoint a ‘fully political board’ to the national oil and gas corporation, giving it total control over the entity, the Sunday Mail is told. The coming shake-up at the company will see the position of executive director abolished, and the people now serving as executives will get a different job title. In effect, they are to be demoted to department heads. And that’s a key reason why a top energy official Solon Kassinis wants to quit as executive vice-chairman at the corporation, the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company (CNHC), sources said.

Currently, the board consists of three executives (one being Kassinis) on five-year contracts and four non-executive directors.

The outspoken official said he was resigning this week after being excluded from a team appointed earlier this month by the government to negotiate with Noble Energy and other companies for the earliest possible supply of natural gas from offshore block 12 and the construction of an LNG plant.

According to the official announcement at the time, the team members are: Stelios Chimonas (chairman), permanent secretary at the trade and energy ministry; Nora Nicolaidou, state’s attorney; Stelios Koundouris, treasury accountant; Eleni Vasiliadou, chairman of the Natural Gas Public Company; Odysseas Michaelides, head of the department of control, ministry of communications; and “a representative from the CNHC”.

During his chat with President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday, Kassinis got confirmation that the government intends to transform the entire board of the CNHC into non-executive directors – more likely than not political appointees. The president showed Kassinis a paper – drafted by the energy minister – outlining how the three current executive directors are to become ‘department heads’ in a soon-to-be reorganised company.

The new board would still consist of seven members, but they would all be non-executive officers. But Kassinis for one wants to hear nothing of it, and has said his decision to step down is final. Departing from the presidential palace, he also told reporters that other executives at the company are thinking of resigning as well.

Still, it should be said that Kassinis likely won’t be decamping for greener pastures any time soon: his contract states he needs to give a three-month notice. But Kassinis’ own gripes at being snubbed are only part of the story.

Sources say it’s clear that the CNHC has been sidelined, and cite the fact that just one of the company’s members has been included on the team negotiating for the LNG project.

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