ExxonMobil, Qatar Petroleum ink contract for block off Cyprus

State-owned oil company Qatar Petroleum and oil major ExxonMobil signed an exploration and production sharing contract with the Government of Cyprus for offshore Block 10.  

As part of the country’s third licensing round, ExxonMobil in partnership with Qatar Petroleum in December was awarded the exploration Block 10. What followed was a negotiation period with the Cypriot government on the terms and provisions of the exploration and production sharing contracts.

Qatar Petroleum said on Wednesday that the contracts with the country’s government have now been signed.

Before the signing ceremony, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, and Andrew Swiger, Senior Vice President and Principal Financial Officer of ExxonMobil, discussed current and future cooperation in the energy field and the contract, which sets the terms for exploring the hydrocarbon potential in Block 10 offshore the Mediterranean Island.

The contract was later signed in the presence of Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, the Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, as well as the Cypriot ministers of Labor, Finance and Foreign Affairs. Also in attendance were Qatar’s ambassador Sultan bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, and the American ambassador Kathleen A. Doherty.

Commenting on the signing, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum said: “This agreement expands our international upstream footprint into the eastern Mediterranean for what we hope is one of the most promising opportunities in the area.”

QP noted that a 3D seismic survey is already underway, as the consortium partners prepare to begin exploration drilling in 2018 and that the consortium will also work with the Government of Cyprus to help build national skills in the oil and gas industry.​