Saipem 10000 resumes drilling off Cyprus
The Saipem 10000 drillship sailed through Cypriot waters on Tuesday where it is set to resume drilling operations on behalf of ENI in Egypt. Namely ENI’s drillship will be operating in block 8 of Egypt’s EEZ, which neighbours block 11 of Cyprus’ EEZ.
Should the vessel have a successful strike, then it will only be 2.5 nautical miles off Cyprus’ zone and 75 nautical miles south east of the Amathousa Well and south of the Eratosthenis underwater mountain range.
Saipem 10000 is back and full operational having previously been through maintenance works after two operations on behalf of ENI in Cyprus’ EEZ.
ENI last year signed Exploration and Production Sharing Contracts with Cyprus, for Blocks 2, 3 and 9 located in the Cypriot deep offshore portion of the Levantine basin, which encompass an area of around 12,530 square kilometres, thus marking the entry of ENI in the country.
ENI was awarded the three blocks whilst leading a consortium formed by ENI (80%, as operator) and the Korean company Kogas (20%) in an international competitive tender (Cyprus Second Offshore Licensing Round) which was completed in May 2012.
Exploration rights for blocks 9 and 11 – which fall under the EEZ of Egypt – fall exclusively under the umbrella of ENI while the Cypriot slice of block 11 belongs to the ENI/KOGAS consortium. Eni holds an 80 percent stake in the block 9 and KOGAS holds a 20 percent stake.
The rights for the Egyptian block 8 – which neighbour Cyprus’ block 11 – belong to the consortium of ENI and BP.
France’s Total failed to find any hydrocarbons at its offshore Cyprus block in January but said it would move forward with further exploration efforts.
Source: http://in-cyprus.com/saipem-1000-resumes-drilling-off-cyprus/
