The Government of the Republic of Cyprus and representatives of the JV Eni/KOGAS have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This preliminary agreement is aimed at investigating areas of cooperation related to Cyprus potential gas resources valorization, with priority to the onshore LNG option.
The Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Yiorgos Lakkotrypis made statements to the Press regarding the Memorandum of Understanding.
“The MoU is an agreement between the Republic of Cyprus and the Eni / KOGAS consortium to explore ways of exploiting the potential gas reserves in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with priority given on the land Liquefaction Terminal,” he said .
The current agreement also constitutes the completion of a cycle of agreements the country has with the licensees of the Blocks- since agreements with Noble and Total have already preceded – with the aim of aligning their actions for the creation of a land Natural Gas Liquefaction Terminal.
The programme of research drilling of the Eni / KOGAS consortium for blocks 2, 3 and 9 is particularly broad and is expected to start very soon and the names of six new potential reserves in Blocks 2, 3 and 9 are Onasagoras, Zenonas, Kinyras, Amathusa, Evagoras and Praxandros. The first four potential reserves have already been approved for drilling, while the others are being processed and hopefully will be approved very soon.
Eni is the Operator of Blocks 2, 3 & 9 of the Cyprus EEZ with 80% participating interest.
KOGAS is partner in the Blocks 2, 3 & 9 with a 20% participating interest.
Press Release, July 31, 2014; Image: Eni