Cyprus opens bids for 11 exploration blocks
Nicosia, Feb 18 (ANI): The Government of the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus has opened the first round for the licensing of 11 offshore exploration blocks lying south and south west of Cyprus towards Egypt.
The round is a competition among international and national oil and gas companies to acquire existing seismic data for the 11 blocks.
Experts commissioned by the Cypriot government have said that there was a high probability of finding untapped hydrocarbon reserves on the Mediterranean seabed at depths ranging from 400 metres to 3,000 metres.
“We are pretty sure there are active petroleum systems in existence in the area,” Lucien Montadert of Beicip-Franclab, a French firm that analysed data drawn from the area by Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services, said in the course of a presentation in Nicosia.
Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Amin Sameh Samir Fahmy, foreign ambassadors, hydrocarbon experts and representatives from international companies, attended an official ceremony in Nicosia to launch the first licensing round.
Cyprus has signed deals both with Egypt and Lebanon delineating the exclusive economic zones for exploration. Turkey has warned all three countries over the issue, but both Cyprus and Egypt made it clear that the agreements would be honoured.
Speaking at the ceremony, Fahmy pledged that Egypt would stand by Cyprus in its effort to explore the island’s offshore oil and gas deposits, making it clear it respected international law and the agreements it had signed with the Republic of Cyprus. (ANI)