A new oil terminal being built by the Athens-based global contractor Joannou and Paraskevaides Ltd. for the world’s largest oil trader, the Vitol Group, is providing some hope to financially challenged Cyprus. The Mediterranean island is hoping a large energy investment will help to repay a $10-billion European Union loan intended to save the country from insolvency.

The Vitol terminal and other energy-sector projects are providing some optimism in a depressed economic environment.  “There’s euphoria over the energy projects ongoing in Cyprus but also a gloom for the present situation,” says Constantinos Hadjistassou, an oil-and-gas industry analyst and researcher at the University of Cyprus.