Cyprus Hopes Giant Egypt Gas Find Extends Into Cypriot Waters

By Tsvetana Paraskova 


Following the giant Zohr gas discovery offshore Egypt in 2015, Cyprus has boosted efforts to award drilling licenses and hopes that the geology of Zohr extends into Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, Cypriot Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis told Reuters in an interview published on Friday.



Total S.A.
Petroleum refining company
Total S.A. is a French multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven "Supermajor" oil companies in the world. Wikipedia
Stock price: TOT (NYSE) $52.22 +0.35 (+0.67%)
May 12, 4:02 PM EDT - Disclaimer
Headquarters: Courbevoie, France
CEO: Patrick Pouyanné (Oct 22, 2014–)
Revenue: 127.9 billion USD (2016)
Number of employees: 102,168 (2016)
Subsidiaries: SunPower, Saft Groupe S.A., AS24, Petrofina, More
Did you know: Total SA is the world's ninth-largest oil and gas company by revenue ($212 B)
France’s major Total will start drilling an exploratory well offshore Cyprus in July, the minister said.


Zohr Field
The Zohr gas field is an offshore natural gas field located in the Egyptian sector of the Mediterranean Sea. Wikipedia
Estimated gas in place: 850×10^9 m3; 30×10^12 cu ft
Discovery: 2015
Offshore/onshore: offshore
Operator: Eni
Region: Mediterranean Sea
Start of production: 4Q 2017

“The Total well in July 2017 will be pretty significant for Cyprus not in terms of its size, but proving that the geological model based on Zohr actually extends into Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone,” Lakkotrypis told Reuters.

In March 2015, Cyprus and Total signed an agreement regarding further exploration works in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus, which Total will undertake in order to further assess the prospects of exploration block 11.
Eni
Oil industry company
eni.com
Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the global supermajors, it has operations in 79 countries, and is currently world's 11th largest ... Wikipedia
Stock price: E (NYSE) $32.57 +0.16 (+0.49%)
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CEO: Claudio Descalzi (May 2014–)
Headquarters: Rome, Italy
Revenue: 90.98 billion EUR (2015)
Number of employees: 80,911 (2015)
Founder: Enrico Mattei
Subsidiaries: Saipem, VERSALIS SPA, Tecnomare

At the time, Italy’s major Eni SpA had not announced yet that Zohr was a “sensational discovery”. This was confirmed in August 2015, when the Italian group said that it had discovered the biggest ever natural gas field in the Mediterranean that could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place.




Cyprus
Country in the Middle East
The Republic of Cyprus occupies the southern part of the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean. The island (and capital city Nicosia) is divided with Turkey to the north. Known for beaches, it also has a rugged interior with wine regions. Coastal Paphos is famed for its archaeological sites relating to the cult of Aphrodite, including ruins of palaces, tombs and mosaic-tiled villas.
Capital: Nicosia
Capital and largest city: Nicosia; 35°10′N 33°22′E / 35.167°N 33.367°E
Minority languages: Armenian; Cypriot Arabic




“The Zohr discovery actually triggered Cyprus’s third licensing round,” Lakkotrypis told Reuters today.





Egypt
Country

Egypt, a country linking northeast Africa with the Middle East, dates to the time of the pharaohs. Millennia-old monuments sit along the fertile Nile River Valley, including Giza's colossal Pyramids and Great Sphinx as well as Luxor's hieroglyph-lined Karnak Temple and Valley of the Kings tombs. The capital, Cairo, is home to Ottoman landmarks like Muhammad Ali Mosque and the Egyptian Museum, a trove of antiquities.
Capital: Cairo
Capital and largest city: Cairo; 30°2′N 31°13′E / 30.033°N 31.217°E
President: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Official languages: Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic
Continent: Africa, Asia


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Following the third licensing round, Cyprus said in December last year that it would start negotiating with the selected partners for the blocks to set terms and conditions for exploration and production (E&P) sharing contracts. A consortium of Eni and Total won the exploration license for block 6, Eni won the license for block 8, and ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum won the right to negotiate E&P terms for block 10.



Last month ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum signed an exploration and production (E&P) sharing contract with the Cyprus government, and will start drilling in a block offshore Cyprus in 2018.

Eni plans to drill two exploratory wells offshore Cyprus in 2017 or in early 2018, Lakkotrypis told Reuters.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com