Cyprus Aphrodite gas field partners near deal

Kathimerini reports that stakeholders in the Aphrodite gas field have agreed to commit natural gas from Cyprus’ Block 12 to Egypt’s LNG facilities from where it will be exported to international markets. A few legal details remain and are expected to be clarified within days.

Noble Energy, Royal Dutch Shell and Delek Drilling aim to utilize Egypt’s existing LNG facilities to speed up commercialization of Aphrodite.

The Aphrodite field is located 160 km south of Limassol and 30 km northwest of the Leviathan field. The field was discovered following drilling of the A-1 discovery well, which began on 20 September 2011, continued for 116 days, and reached a depth of 5,860 meters below sea level.

Block 12 is expected to hold 3.6 to 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The field is estimated to produce about 800 million cubic feet per day in the first production phase, according to Delek.

“If there are facilities, if the markets are there, investors will be interested, as they already do for the Aphrodite deposit, for which infrastructure is of great interest,” said Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis.

Lakkotrypis said that natural gas will be transported from the Aphrodite field via pipeline to Egypt, where it will be liquefied and exported.

“'There are two legal points that I hope will be clarified this week”' said the minister. Beyond that, the development and production plan should be agreed at the same time as the production sharing agreement. The development and production plan is basically the text that will lead us, if agreed upon, to a license for the joint venture. From then on, it opens the way for natural gas to be channeled to the terminals of Egypt and from there to European markets.”

[Kathimerini Cyprus]