NICOSIA, Cyprus — The Cyprus government has renewed an agreement with Italian energy company Eni and its South Korean partner KOGAS to search for oil and gas in waters off the Mediterranean island's southern coast.
Eni said in August that it discovered off Egypt's coast what it called the biggest gas field ever found in the Mediterranean sea.
Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis says Eni's license to search in three areas has been extended to February 2018.
He said after a Cabinet meeting Monday exploratory drilling could begin sometime in 2017, but a consortium study is still in its preliminary stage.
Earlier this month, French energy company Total also renewed its license to search for oil and gas off Cyprus for two more years.
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same story from different source
ENI licence renewed | in-cyprus.com (Cyprus Weekly)
incyprus — 28/12/2015
Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting which was held at the presidential retreat in Troodos, Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis said the decision provides for a two-year extension, until February 2018, in order for ENI to re-evaluate the energy potential, especially now, following the developments in the Egyptian EEZ with the discovery of the Zohr deposit.”
The company had asked for an extension earlier in 2015.
Once the proper legal framework to satisfy the request was found, the Ministry of Energy was given the go-ahead to begin negotiating with the consortium.
Lakkotrypis said the extension concerns exploration licences in blocks 2, 3 and 9 of Cyprus’ EEZ.
According to the minister, ENI has a large team working on the geological models of blocks 2, 3 and 9, and “I expect and hope that we will have the first results of this reassessment by the end of January.”
“Based on the preliminary plan that we received a few months ago, a new round of drilling is expected to begin mid-2017,” the minister said.
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