A recent assessment indicates that Cronos is estimated to hold more than the Aphrodite deposit, the first major discovery inside Cypriot waters which is estimated to contain 4. The so-called host-government agreement will be signed at Egypt's energy summit that will be held between Feb. The agreement is the latest in a string of recent developments surrounding Cyprus' natural gas potential. Also on Friday, ExxonMobil and partners Qatar Petroleum announced the start of drilling at the offshore Elektra well, near to its existing Glaucus deposit which is estimated to contain 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Papanastasiou said there are "positive" indications of a natural gas deposit at the Elektra well some 6 kilometers 3. He said preliminary results of the drill are expected in early April. Cyprus is moving its energy generation away from dependence on crude oil in favor of cleaner, cheaper natural gas. Plans for an onshore terminal to turn liquefied natural gas back into gaseous form have been delayed, but in the meantime Cyprus wants to use a tanker that was part of the terminal contract to process gas.
Pananastasiou said Egypt has expressed interest in using the Prometheus tanker for its own purposes until Cyprus has finished its land-based infrastructure that would allow it to import gas for cheaper electricity generation.
The Cypriot energy minister said Cyprus and Egypt will also sign a separate agreement at the Egyptian energy summit that foresees conveying natural gas from the Aphrodite deposit to Egypt.
But it hasn't been decided yet with a Chevron-led consortium that operates Aphrodite whether the gas will be used for domestic energy needs or be made available for export after processing in Egypt. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in.
