Consortium declares Greek Cyprus gas find commercially viable

NICOSIA - Agence France-Presse

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C), Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades (R) and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras chat outside the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, April 29, 2015. Reuters Photo

Greek Cyprus announced on June 7 that offshore reserves in its Aphrodite gas field have been pronounced commercially exploitable, the first such development in four years of energy exploration.

US firm Noble Energy made the first find off the southeast coast in 2011 in the Aphrodite field (Block 12), which is estimated to contain around 127.4 billion cubic meters (4.54 trillion cubic feet) of gas. Israeli firms Delek and Avner have a 30 percent stake in the venture.

“Noble Energy International, Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration have declared commerciality of Aphrodite,” the energy ministry said in a statement.

It said the venture will now submit a development and production plan to the government covering method and timeline for extraction and sales. It is subject to cabinet approval.

The announcement comes after Italian-South Korean energy consortium Eni-Kogas said in March it had failed to discover any exploitable gas reserves in deep-sea drilling off the Mediterranean island.

In January, French energy giant Total said it had failed to locate any targets to test-drill in the blocks it is licensed to exploit.

Greek Cyprus and energy-starved Egypt are looking into the possibility of transferring gas from the Aphrodite field to Egypt via an undersea pipeline. Greek Cyprus hopes to begin exporting gas, and maybe oil, by 2022.