Chevron-led group to update offshore gas plan as Cyprus sets deadline

A Chevron-led consortium that holds licensing rights over a gas field off Cyprus will present an updated development plan within days, one of the partners has said, after Cyprus gave them a three-month deadline to comply.

There have been protracted talks on the future development of the Aphrodite field south-east of Cyprus since Chevron attempted to introduce changes to a 2019 field development plan. That plan had been agreed between Cyprus and license-holder Noble, an independent energy operator Chevron acquired in 2020.

In a stock filing to the Tel Aviv bourse on Monday, NewMed Energy, a partner in the consortium, said the partners planned to submit an updated plan for the development of Aphrodite in the coming days.

It said Cyprus’s Minister of Energy sent a “notice of breach” on August 25, giving the partners three months to begin the front-end engineering design (FEED) process, a step that allows the costs and engineering detail of a project to be assessed.

Failing that, the Cypriot government would be entitled to give notice to terminate the contract, NewMed said in its filing.

Aphrodite was discovered in 2011 and is Cyprus’s first offshore discovery, holding an estimated 3.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. Cyprus has since discovered gas deposits in another four areas, all untapped to date.

Chevron is a partner in the field with Israel’s NewMed and BG Cyprus, part of Shell.

A spokesperson at Cyprus’s Energy Ministry said: “The primary concern of the government is the implementation of Cyprus’ energy program within the framework set by the contract signed by the parties.

“The notification provided to the consortium was in accordance with the provisions of the contract. Based on the notification the consortium has three months to remedy.” [Reuters]