October 6th, 2016, Elias Hazou
Energy giant Total said on Thursday that it plans to carry out its first exploratory drilling for hydrocarbons offshore Cyprus around April next year.
Total E&P Cyprus and EDT offshore, an oil and gas services company, signed a contract where the latter will provide the former onshore logistics services out of the port of Limassol supporting Total’s drilling programme.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Yves Grosjean, country manager for Total E&P Cyprus, said the company was looking at an April 2017 timeframe for its first well.
Total has a concession on offshore Block 11.
In early 2015 Total relinquished Block 10, on which it had also held a concession, without drilling any wells. The company was released from its original two-well drilling commitment but maintained exploration rights in Block 11, agreeing to continue to evaluate 3D seismic data in a bid to locate a possible target.
