Cyprus’s Energy Minister, Natasa Pilidou, said that drilling of the first well in the Eni-Total consortium will get underway in the coming weeks.
Pilides, in an interview to Greek-language newspaper ‘Kathimerini’, said that the government is in continuous contact with the Eni-Total consortium for two exploratory wells in 2022.
According to the Energy Minister, the consortium’s delay until now has been due mainly to the effects of measures taken worldwide to address the Covid pandemic.
Regarding the results of drilling at the Glafcos 2 target well by ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum (QP), Pilidou expressed the government’s satisfaction. “Preliminary results are expected in the coming months,” she said, noting that no announcement is expected before the evaluation is completed.
In relation to the exploitation of Cyprus’s Aphrodite deposit, the Energy Minister pointed out that since November 2019 when the exploitation licence was issued, until today, there has been a significant change in the data, while in the meantime, Chevron acquired Noble Energy.
“Given the EU’s effort to break free from Russian gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we are trying to expedite the consortium’s decisions so as to move forward with the exploitation of reserves at the Aphrodite deposit, as quickly as possible,” Pilides said.
On Monday, the Energy Minister will attend a tripartite meeting in Jerusalem with her Israeli and Greek counterparts, where they will meet to discuss their progress in Energy cooperation as well as the EuroAsia Interconnector and the work of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum.
The trio will also exchange views on further strengthening and utilising the 3 + 1 cooperation scheme with the United States.
After the tripartite meeting, Pilides and her Israeli opposite will participate in a bilateral meeting between the Cypriot and Israeli delegations.
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