The construction of a pipeline from Cyprus’ Aphrodite gas field to onshore facilities in Egypt will be completed before 2017, according to the chairman of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas), Khaled Abdel Badie.

The Egyptian engineering company Enppi will handle the technical and engineering studies involved in planning the route for the pipeline, Badie told Daily News Egypt.

Egas is also negotiating to import about 700 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas from Cyprus’ Aphrodite field via the pipeline, according to Badie.

The pipeline is expected to be 400 kilometres long.

Aphrodite is operated by US-based Nobel Energy and located in the exploratory drilling block 12, within Cyprus’ maritime Exclusive Economic Zone.

Block 12 is believed to hold between 3.6 trillion and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The cost of the pipeline will be divided between the Cypriot government, Noble Energy, the Egyptian government, the UK’s BG Group and Spain’s Union Fenosa.

At the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in March, Egas signed an agreement with Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company committing to a study looking at the feasibility of importing gas from Cyprus’ Aphrodite field.

The agreement was based on a preliminary deal signed in February for a study looking at the feasibility of transporting gas from the field directly to Egypt via a maritime pipeline.

The latest announcement from Egas comes after an official trip by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who travelled to Cyprus on 28 April.

Negotiations included talks between Cyprus, Greece and Egypt on the delimitation of their maritime zones.