22/03/2015
The gas supply deal from Cyprus to Egypt from the offshore Aphrodite field could be as long as 20 years, according to BG speaking at the Third Annual Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference in Nicosia this week.
Plans are currently under way to export gas from the Aphrodite field to Egypt via subsea pipeline to supply the underutilised Idku and Union Fenosa liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Egypt.
BG would be a partner in the process together with the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company (CHC) and its Egyptian counterpart, Egas.
Noble Energy, the main partner in the Aphrodite field, met Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Tuesday to discuss a development plan for the Aphrodite field, which contains a gross mean of 4.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf).
Ben Dillon, Vice-President for Communications and Government relations at Noble Energy told the conference, “we remain committed to the region … we are working with the [Cyprus] Ministry of Energy to submit a natural gas plan”.
A development plan and a declaration of commerciality should be announced in the coming weeks according to Cyprus Weekly sources.
“For the first time we are progressing from exploration to exploitation phase,” energy minister George Lakkotrypis said at the same conference.
Some commentators are concerned that the LNG plants do not have enough capacity to absorb all the supply that could come from Cyprus, Israel and Egypt.
BG has drilled 68 wells alone offshore Egypt in recent times.
However, BG Vice-President of Business Development John Burley is not worried.
Noting that currently most gas produced by Egypt is diverted to the domestic market, Burley told the conference that this has “created spare capacity that could process and export gas from Cyprus”.
He said that some volumes could go into the domestic market so it would not all necessarily be for LNG.
“There is lots of capacity for exporting from Cyprus or Israel,” he said.
Asked how long the contract for supply from Cyprus to Egypt might be, he said, “We’d anticipate 20 years”.
Total deal extended
Meanwhile, Lakkotrypis signed an agreement on Wednesday with General Manager of Total E&P Cyprus Jean-Luc Porcheron so that Total can further assess the prospectivity of exploration Block 11.
The agreement was signed in the framework of the existing contractual relationship between Cyprus and Total E&P with respect to Block 11, a press release said.
Total announced in January that it was likely to abandon a search for oil and gas off Cyprus after failing to find tangible evidence of reserves, raising fears that it was abandoning Cyprus.
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