Late last week, Cyprus opened the door for a third licensing round for offshore oil and gas drilling, offering some confidence in the future of the country’s energy efforts.
According to local media reports, Cyprus opened up blocks 6,8 and 10 in an area that comes close to where Italy’s Eni recently discovered what is estimated to be the largest offshore find in a decade.
In August of last year, Eni announced it has discovered an enormous offshore natural gas field just off the country’s Mediterranean shore, boosting the country’s energy aspirations.
According to a Bloomberg report on the discovery, Eni outlined a potential "super giant” field that could potentially be home to 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, making it the biggest find in the Mediterranean.
That discovery has added some confidence regional production efforts, attracting increased attention from foreign firms.
"The decision to launch this licensing round was based on the huge interest by international companies to carry out explorations offshore Cyprus despite the energy industry’s not-so-favorable conditions,” said government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides.
The effort comes several months after a series of firms active in the region reported that they had failed to find exploitable natural gas reserves off the coast of Cyprus, casting some doubt on the country’s energy aspirations.
Last year, Eni and Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) announced that their drilling efforts had once again come up dry. The consortium had similar results during a drilling effort in 2014 on the same block.
The failure to find viable reserves adds to the strain on the country’s energy push. In 2014, France’s Total also came up short in finding reserves, though they continue to work in the region, according to a Reuters report.
However, with the momentum of Eni’s recent discovery behind it, Nicosia is showing signs of confidence in the region’s energy potential and foreign firms appear to be listening.
by Christopher Coats
(www.forbes.com)
