Cyprus’ cabinet last week approved contracts with Qatar Petroleum along with three other International Oil Companies (IOCs) to explore for oil and gas in offshore areas south of the island, officials said.
Exploring the Mediterranean’s Levant Basin has become more attractive since Eni discovered Egypt’s offshore Zohr field in 2015, the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean and estimated to contain 850bn cubic metres of gas. The Cypriot concessions cover exploration rights for three offshore blocks off the south and southwestern coast and contracts would be signed on April 5 and 6, Energy Minister Georgios Lakkotrypis said.
Eni and Total are in a consortium for one of the blocks, while ExxonMobil and Qatar have joined up for another. Eni will be on its own in a third block. The blocks were offered in the third licensing round held by Cyprus.
Total, which won rights for another block in a previous licensing round, planned to conduct drilling this year in Block 11, which borders the Zohr discovery, Lakkotrypis said.
Eni said last week that it had finalised a deal with Total to buy a 50% interest in Block 11, with Total remaining the operator.
The Italian firm planned to drill twice this year, Lakkotrypis said. “Precisely what block has not yet been defined, that will be ascertained with greater clarity by seismic data,” he added.
Noble Energy of the US made Cyprus’s first natural gas discovery offshore in 2011.
