Eni CEO: We’ll help Cyprus develop its energy potential

Gas found in Cyprus could be transferred to Europe through Eni’s facility in Egypt.

That possibility was brought up Thursday during a meeting in Nicosia between Cypriot president and the Italian oil and gas company’s CEO.

During his meeting with president Nicos Anastasiades, Eni’s Claudio Descalzi said that the company would continue to work with the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to develop the country’s energy potential.

Descalzi said that the company’s export facility in Egypt could prove useful for gas that has been discovered in Cyprus to find its way to Europe. This would be good for Cyprus, Egypt and EU, Descalzi said.

“I think we can create good synergies with the Egyptian facilities and we can also discuss future development by following the same kind of geological model that we developed and discovered in Egypt”.

Mediterranean important for EU energy security

One of the topics of the meeting was the role that Cyprus would play in the near future. Descalzi praised the island nation’s government as being active and moving in a positive way in terms of promoting a positive environment for investments.

“Eni believes in the significant synergies of joint development in the entire area of the eastern Mediterranean. This area could be of crucial strategic importance as a gas hub for the whole region and also makes an important contribution to European energy security,” the company said in a statement.

Descalzi and Anastasiades also talked about the evolution of the energy and geopolitical scenarios that the recent gas discovery made at Zohr well offshore Egypt, would bring throughout the area.

The discovery has been described as the largest ever in the Mediterranean. On Wednesday, Descalzi said that the Zohr discovery could be even larger than initially assumed. Late in August, Eni said the find could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place (5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place).

Further drilling in the area is expected to resume in January 2016.

Drilling to continue

Back to Cyprus, Eni CEO and the President also discussed the future of three blocks the Italian company has in Cyprus; blocks 2, 3 and 9. The blocks are located in the Levantine basin, south of Cyprus.

Eni took hold of the blocks during the Cyprus 2nd Offshore Licensing Round in May 2012. It operates the three offshore blocks with an 80 percent ownership. South Korea’s Kogas holds the remaining 20 percent.

In March 2015, the Eni/Kogas consortium failed to discover exploitable hydrocarbons during drilling at the Amathusa well.

Asked about Eni’s plans with regard to the Cypriot offshore blocks, Descalzi said after the meeting: “We have to reassess all our data to understand better the geological model and be more focused maybe on another target in the same blocks. But it is clear that the commitment to continue our exploration in Cyprus is very strong”.

Aphrodite awaiting development

This is Cyprus President Anastasiades’ second meeting with executives from oil and gas industry in less than a week.

To remind, the President Anastasiades met last Friday with a Delek Drilling delegation led by the company’s CEO Yossi Abu, where they agreed on the Aphrodite field development cooperation.

Abu said Friday he saw a positive outcome of the Eni’s discovery in Egypt as it put eastern Mediterranean gas into focus. He also expressed his belief in more potential in the Cypriot offshore for more oil and gas discoveries.

Cyprus government in June welcomed declaration of commerciality of the “Aphrodite” natural gas offshore field by the operator, Noble Energy.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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