Noble Energy said on Thursday it is giving up its rights to Cyprus’ offshore Block 12 but will retain its interest in the Aphrodite field.
Noble told Bloomberg news that when the third and final exploration period expires on May 23 the acreage outside of the Aphrodite development area will be released and returned to the government.
The writing was on the wall from October last year, when Noble announced it would postpone drilling an additional exploration well from October until May 2016, when the licence expires.
The Block 12 partners, Noble Energy, Delek Holdings and BG, now owned by Shell, are supposed to submit a development plan this month for the Aphrodite field, which holds an estimated 4.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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