Amid a looming energy crisis in Europe due to tightening gas supplies from Russia, European oil majors Eni and TotalEnergies announced on August 22 a significant gas discovery offshore Cyprus.
Eni, as operator of Block 6 offshore Cyprus, and its partner TotalEnergies encountered in the Cronos-1 well, an important gas column in a carbonate reservoir sequence of fair to excellent properties, the Italian energy firm said.
Preliminary estimates indicate there are about 2.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas in place, “with significant additional upside that will be investigated by a further exploration well in the area,” Eni noted.
Additionally, the companies said the gas discovery at the Cronos-1 well could unlock additional potential in the area and is part of Eni’s successful effort to provide further gas supply to Europe.
“This successful exploration well at Cronos-1 is another illustration of the impact of our exploration strategy which is focused on discovering resources with low technical cost and low carbon emissions, to contribute to energy security including to provide an additional sources of gas supply to Europe,” said Kevin McLachlan, senior vice president of exploration at TotalEnergies.
European shares fell to their lowest level in nearly one month on Monday as worries about tightening gas supplies from Russia, hawkish signals from the European Central Bank and weak economic outlook weighed on investors’ minds, Reuters reported.
This year, European majors have also entered into several strategic agreements with Middle East NOCs. In July, QatarEnergy revealed partnership agreements with TotalEnergies and Eni for the North Field East mega project to expand its LNG production capacity from 77 million tons per annum (MTPA) to 110 MTPA.
During the same month, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and TotalEnergies signed a strategic partnership agreement to deepen their long-standing partnership and explore new opportunities for growth across the energy value chain.
