Cyprus approves Eni, Total, Exxon offshore block deals - REUTERS

Fri Mar 17, 2017 | 9:54am EDT
Michele Kambas; Editing by Edmund Blair

Cyprus's cabinet on Friday approved contracts with France's Total, Italy's Eni , Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum to explore for oil and gas in offshore areas south of the island, officials said.

Exploring the Mediterranean's Levant Basin has become more attractive since Eni discovered Egypt's offshore Zohr field in 2015, the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean and estimated to contain 850 billion cubic metres of gas. The Cypriot concessions cover exploration rights for three offshore blocks off the south and southwestern coast and contracts would be signed on April 5 and 6, Energy Minister Georgios Lakkotrypis said.

Eni and Total are in a consortium for one of the blocks and ExxonMobil and Qatar have joined up for another. Eni will be on its own in a third block. The blocks were offered in the third licensing round held by Cyprus.

Good news but realism should prevail - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

March 12, 2017
Charles Ellinas

The long-awaited confirmation of Cyprus’ third licensing round awards was made on Tuesday, March 7. As expected, these awards were as follows:

Block 6: ENI-Total consortium
Block 8: ENI
Block 10: ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum

The signature bonus to be paid to the government totals €103.5 million.
This was good news and a successful conclusion to a bidding round that saw three of the world’s oil and gas majors committing to Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The signature of the Production Sharing Agreements is expected by the end of March.

The other equally important news was confirmation that ENI and Total have agreed to extend their cooperation in Block 11 on a 50:50 basis, with Total as the operator. The farm-in deal has been approved by Cyprus’ Council of Ministers.

In the following I analyse these developments and their implications for Cyprus and the region.

Total-Eni forge Cyprus alliance - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

March 10, 2017

Italian energy major Eni has finalised a farm-in agreement with France’s Total to acquire 50% participating interest of Block 11, offshore Cyprus.

The agreement, in which Total remains operator of the block, has been approved by the Cabinet.

Under this deal Eni further reinforces its own position in Cyprus exploration, acquiring the right of exploring an area of 2,215 km2, nearby the super giant Zohr discovery in the Egyptian offshore.

The rights on Block 11 were assigned by the Republic of Cyprus to Total back in 2013 at the conclusion of the second international bid round. The exploration well is expected to be drilled in the Block within 2017.

Exxon eyes Israel after Cyprus win - GLOBES

9 Mar, 2017 14:09
Nati Yefet

After winning a Cypriot government tender, Exxon Mobile has expressed interest in bidding for Israeli natural gas tenders.
Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz met last week with senior executives from Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell during his visit to the US. The minister's associates say that while Royal Dutch Shell will probably not take part in the new tender for oil and gas exploration licenses in Israeli waters, the Exxon Mobil executives came equipped with a great deal of relevant information, and expressed interest in the tender.

Eni finalizes farm-in agreement with Total, acquiring interest offshore Cyprus - WORLD OIL

March/7/2017

SAN DONATO MILANESE -- Eni announces that has finalized a farm-in agreement with Total to acquire 50% participating interest of Block 11, offshore Cyprus.

The agreement, by which Total remains the Operator of the block, has been approved by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus. With this transaction Eni further reinforces its own position in the Country, acquiring the right of exploring an area of 2,215 km2, nearby the super giant Zohr discovery in the Egyptian offshore.

The rights on Block 11 were assigned by the Republic of Cyprus to Total back in 2013 at the conclusion of the second international bid round held by the Country. The exploration well is expected to be drilled in the Block within 2017.

ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum the new entrants in Cyprus' EEZ

George Lakkotrypis, the Cypriot Minister of Energy, tweeted "Significant developments in #Cyprus oil & gas. Shaping a new picture in Cyprus #EEZ and impacting the potential of the #EastMed as a whole."

The map seen here which accompanied the tweet shows the licensees at the successful conclusion of the negotiations pertaining to Cyprus' 3rd licensing round.

New entrants are ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum in block 10. ENI, already present in the Cypriot EEZ, picks up blcoks 6 and 8, the former in an alliance with Total.

In a separate development, block 11 was farmed out with the block's rights now shared by ENi (50%) and Total (50%).