Eni-Total to resume work off Cyprus

The Eni-Total consortium will resume work on Block 6 within Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. The Franco-Italian consortium will initially carry out drilling at a specific point in Block 6 to have a better picture of the Calypso deposit, Kathimerini understands.

The precise time when work will resume has not been announced, but all indications suggest that it will happen by the end of April or the beginning of May. The return of the two companies to the Cypriot EEZ was announced by Minister of Energy Natasa Pilides in her interview in the print edition of Kathimerini Cyprus on Sunday.

When asked why the resumption of work was delayed, the minister attributed it to the effects of the measures taken worldwide to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are in continuous contact with the consortium. They remain committed to its cooperation with the Republic of Cyprus and are expected to carry out two exploratory drillings in 2022, with the first scheduled to start in the coming weeks.”

After the first drilling, the French-Italian consortium will carry out a second, in another area where they have seismic data. For the Calypso deposit, the results of the research drilling carried out in 2018 showed the existence of a deposit which is initially estimated at 6-8 tera cubic feet (approximately 2,400 billion cubic meters). The announcement was made by the Italian company and its CEO Claudio Descalzi in April 2018. On the sidelines of a conference held in Cairo, Descalzi appeared optimistic, saying that “it could be more or in this range,” and that it “certainly cannot be less.”

The energy crisis in Europe that resulted from sanctions imposed on Russia led the energy ministers of Cyprus, Israel and Greece to meet in Jerusalem to try and resolve a number of issues with regard to energy security in the Old Continent. The tripartite meeting examined all options available for corridors of energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, retabling the possibility of a gas processing terminal in Cyprus. The issue was raised by Greek Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas, who stressed that the Eastern Mediterranean can play a catalytic role in Europe’s supply: “Utilizing Egypt’s existing terminals and a new LNG terminal in Cyprus is the fastest and most flexible way to export Israeli gas to Southeastern Europe,” he said.