NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) -- Cyprus' commerce minister says the island nation will go ahead with plans to build a facility for storing and processing natural gas that has been discovered off its southern coast.
Neoklis Sylikiotis told The Associated Press on Friday that the 5-8 trillion cubic feet (140-230 billion cubic meters) of gas U.S. firm Noble Energy discovered last year is enough to merit the facility's construction, although there are indications of more offshore gas deposits.
Sylikiotis says there is strong foreign interest to invest in the facility, which will supply domestic power plants and liquefy the fuel for export to foreign markets.
He said the facility is estimated to cost around 6-7 billion euros ($7.5-8.7 billion) and be completed by 2019.
