Cyprus Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Giorgos Lakkotrypis said that the Ministry is making every effort to ensure that ENI will be facilitated in order to start hydrocarbons exploration in the Summer, instead of November.
In statements in Larnaka, on the sidelines of the drill “NEMESIS 2014”, Lakkotrypis replying to a question said that “at the moment we need more natural gas in order to proceed with our plans for the creation of the LNG plant at Vasilikos.”
“It seems that we are in a good position and I hope to be able to proceed with announcements soon,” he concluded.
Preliminary results of an appraisal well carried out by Houston-based Noble Energy for natural gas in Block 12 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone estimate the hydrocarbon reserve between 3.6tcf and 6tcf with a gross mean resource of 5tcf. Noble Energy operates Block 12 with a 70 percent working interest. Delek Drilling Limited Partnership and Avner Oil Exploration Limited Partnership each own 15 percent. Total E&P Cyprus Ltd has been granted a license for seismic exploration for oil and gas in block 10 and in parts of blocks 6, 7 and 11 of Cyprus’ EEZ.