ServPRO reports, on Wednesday 27th 2016, Government Spokesperson Nikos Christodoulides announced via his Twitter account that Cyprus received bids from ENI, Total, Statoil, Exxon Mobil, Qatar Petroleum, Cairn Energy and Delek / Avner in the third licensing round for offshore hydrocarbon blocks.
Following Mr. Christodoulides’ announcement, was Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis’s twit saying: “#Cyprus EEZ attracts significant interest from Oil & Gas majors during 3rd Licensing Round for offshore exploration” and which also included a map showing the relevant blocks.
Most of the interest, came for block 10 (applications submitted by ENI, Total, ExxonMobil, Qatar Petroleum and Statoil), located adjacent to the Zohr gasfield of Egypt, and which according to ENI,’s last year findings, holds an estimate of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, making it the biggest in the Mediterranean, and if proven true, could double Egypt’s natural gas reserves.
The ENI / Total venture was the only bidder for block 6. ENI placed a bid for block 8 competing with Capricorn Oil, a consortium comprising Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy and the Israeli duo Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration.
Israel’s Delek is already present in the consortium operating the Aphrodite gasfield in block 12, headed by Houston-based Noble Energy (recently joined by Shell-subsidiary British Gas). Thus far, block 12 produced the biggest prospect of natural gas reserves, with the upper level at 4.5 trillion cubic feet and is expected to come on stream by 2020.
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