ENI/KOGAS consortium has asked for an extension of their exploration drilling license to re-evaluate geological data for blocs 2, 3 and 9 of South Cyprus’ Aphrodite gas fields. The consortium initiated two unsuccessful attempts of find gas in the Onasagoras and Amathousa blocs and will be looking for other drilling locations.
Minister of Energy Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said that the request, which had been submitted some months ago, had prompted the Ministry to work in collaboration with the government’s Legal Service in an attempt to find the legal framework in which this request could be met.
In statements after the Cabinet meeting, Lakkotrypis said that as the legal framework had been established, negotiations will commence to examine the terms and changes needed so that ENI/KOGAS’ research programme can continue.
Lakkotrypis noted that the company has asked for a two-year extension, until February 2018, to reassess the hydrocarbon potential of the eastern Levant basin in the Mediterranean Sea.
He pointed out that all data show that the company is driven only by geological criteria and not by political ones, and added that the government`s international advisers on energy issues consider the company’s request to be justified.
The Italian-South Korean consortium has been awarded exploration licenses in blocs 2, 3 and 9 of South Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
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