ExxonMobil and its partner offshore Cyprus, QatarEnergy, on Friday started drilling for natural gas in an exploration block in the island nation’s exclusive economic zone, the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said.
The U.S. supermajor and Qatar’s state energy giant launched drilling activities in Block 5, Christodoulides wrote on X.
“Cyprus progresses exploration activities, aiming to be an alternative and reliable source of Natural Gas for the EU,” the Cypriot president added.
Cyprus has been hoping that its waters could hold giant natural gas resources, similar to the ones discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean offshore Egypt and Israel.
Exxon previewed at the end of last year that it would start drilling in January 2025 an exploration well offshore Cyprus, targeting natural gas.
“We’ve spent the last two years collecting very detailed, three dimensional seismic data … We’ve identified several large prospects, and the next stage is to bring in a drilling rig and to test those,” John Ardill, Vice-president for global exploration at ExxonMobil, told Reuters in November.
“There is huge potential for gas exploration,” Ardill said, adding that Exxon sees the Electra prospect as “highly promising.”
Other international majors have been also exploring for natural gas offshore Cyprus.
Italy’s Eni and its partner, France’s TotalEnergies, made two discoveries in 2022—Cronos and Zeus.
Last year, Eni said it had completed the drilling of a second appraisal well at the Cronos gas discovery offshore Cyprus, estimating additional production capacity as it looks to fast-track development of the field. Eni is a partner and operator in seven exploration licenses offshore the country.
Cyprus could begin its first-ever production of natural gas as soon as 2026, the Mediterranean country’s Commerce, Industry, and Energy Minister George Papanastasiou told Reuters in an interview in early 2024.
Exxon and the other U.S. supermajor, Chevron, are also looking to explore for oil and gas offshore Greece in the Mediterranean.
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