SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
Stelios Orphanides
Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said that Total S.A. will deliver in October the results of a geological and geophysical survey it carried out in block 11 of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone which will take into account Egypt’s 30 trillion cubic feet natural gas discovery.
Following Egypt’s latest discovery, Total, which has the exploration and exploitation license for the block which is close to Zohr, “now knows exactly what they have to look for,” said Lakkotrypis, commenting in an interview to state radio CyBC.
“This discovery has created a new situation in the area,” he said. “It was the first time that we had a discovery of that magnitude there unlocking that particular geological area, which is different compared with the Levantine basin. It is different as in the case of Cyprus we have the Eratosthenes subsea mountain. It is a positive development as we have blocks which are of similar geological form with the area of the Zohr discovery”.
Cyprus and Total’s agreed that the French energy company, which also has the license for block 10, would carry out a new survey after it said in January that it could not locate drilling targets in the area.
The minister added that Cypriot authorities and advisors “are evaluating the geological data of Zohr and the area to see whether it extends across the delimitation line”.
In addition, Cyprus is also evaluating the commercial impact of the Egyptian discovery, announced on Sunday by Italian energy company ENI, on Cyprus’s ambition to export natural gas from its so far single Aphrodite finding, the minister said. He added that a delegation of the UK’s BG Group, which operates one of Egypt’s underutilised natural gas liquefaction plants, is in Cyprus for talks. One consideration is to export natural gas via an undersea pipeline to Egypt,.
“Now there’s only one certain thing,” he said. “They (Egypt) were trying to locate a total of 25tcf to exploit in the area between Egypt and Cyprus and now there may be 50tcf there. Egypt’s needs are huge, both for domestic energy production and for its industry as well as for the liquefaction terminals for export.
“The Egyptian oil minister said that they will divert all natural gas from Zohr to domestic power generation and if something is left, it could be exported,” Lakkotrypis said. “The energy problem of the country is very serious. Outages even two or three times a day in August are putting a lot of pressure on the government.”
Lakkotrypis also said that state owned natural gas company DEFA is continuing its negotiations for an “interim solution” which will allow Cyprus to import natural gas for power production from abroad until it begins using its own reserves. “It is a difficult equation because of the limited quantities (required) and the prospect of using our reserves,” he said. “We have to find the right balance”.
SOURCE
Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said that Total S.A. will deliver in October the results of a geological and geophysical survey it carried out in block 11 of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone which will take into account Egypt’s 30 trillion cubic feet natural gas discovery.
Following Egypt’s latest discovery, Total, which has the exploration and exploitation license for the block which is close to Zohr, “now knows exactly what they have to look for,” said Lakkotrypis, commenting in an interview to state radio CyBC.
“This discovery has created a new situation in the area,” he said. “It was the first time that we had a discovery of that magnitude there unlocking that particular geological area, which is different compared with the Levantine basin. It is different as in the case of Cyprus we have the Eratosthenes subsea mountain. It is a positive development as we have blocks which are of similar geological form with the area of the Zohr discovery”.
Cyprus and Total’s agreed that the French energy company, which also has the license for block 10, would carry out a new survey after it said in January that it could not locate drilling targets in the area.
The minister added that Cypriot authorities and advisors “are evaluating the geological data of Zohr and the area to see whether it extends across the delimitation line”.
In addition, Cyprus is also evaluating the commercial impact of the Egyptian discovery, announced on Sunday by Italian energy company ENI, on Cyprus’s ambition to export natural gas from its so far single Aphrodite finding, the minister said. He added that a delegation of the UK’s BG Group, which operates one of Egypt’s underutilised natural gas liquefaction plants, is in Cyprus for talks. One consideration is to export natural gas via an undersea pipeline to Egypt,.
“Now there’s only one certain thing,” he said. “They (Egypt) were trying to locate a total of 25tcf to exploit in the area between Egypt and Cyprus and now there may be 50tcf there. Egypt’s needs are huge, both for domestic energy production and for its industry as well as for the liquefaction terminals for export.
“The Egyptian oil minister said that they will divert all natural gas from Zohr to domestic power generation and if something is left, it could be exported,” Lakkotrypis said. “The energy problem of the country is very serious. Outages even two or three times a day in August are putting a lot of pressure on the government.”
Lakkotrypis also said that state owned natural gas company DEFA is continuing its negotiations for an “interim solution” which will allow Cyprus to import natural gas for power production from abroad until it begins using its own reserves. “It is a difficult equation because of the limited quantities (required) and the prospect of using our reserves,” he said. “We have to find the right balance”.
SOURCE
