Cyprus plans to launch a new licensing round for offshore natural gas exploration as demand remains strong despite global attempts to move away from fossil fuels, its energy minister said.
Nestled in the northeastern Mediterranean, Cyprus has reported several discoveries since 2011, containing an estimated 15-16 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of untapped natural gas, the equivalent of almost half of the annual production of the United States, the world’s largest producer.
This discovery has attracted the interest of international companies amid uncertainty over supplies from Russia since the full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and over the future of new natural gas projects. liquefied.
“We are evaluating potential interests,” Energy Minister George Papanastasiou told Reuters when asked about the possibility of a new licensing round. “If we see some interest, we might decide to start a new licensing round, yes.
The Eastern Mediterranean has yielded significant gas discoveries over the past decade, mainly off the coast of Israel and Egypt. Cyprus has 13 offshore blocks, 10 of which are granted to big energy names such as Eni, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and TotalEnergies.
The proposed blocks could be either those that are not licensed or those for which operators would like to relinquish their license, Papanastasiou said, without going into details.
“If we find that some of these blocks are likely to be released, we may decide to launch a new licensing round,” he said.
Mr. Papanastasiou, who worked for 40 years for major energy groups before being appointed energy minister in 2022, recently visited Abu Dhabi, where he had contacts with senior officials of the Emirati giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC).
The region’s potential continues to attract interest, he said.
“We need to develop this wealth…and that’s what we intend to do,” he said.
Cyprus has set itself the goal of producing 33% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, compared to 19% today. But despite almost permanent sunshine, the lack of electricity storage and the aging of the network have limited the production of renewable energy, in particular solar energy.
In the coming weeks, authorities will launch tenders for solar battery storage facilities that will help achieve these goals, the minister said.
“We believe it is possible to achieve these goals.
However, he recognized that natural gas was interesting because it is less polluting and less expensive than the heavy fuel oil which currently supplies the network.
“Natural gas still has a few decades of survival, of life in this (energy) mix.
Mr Papanastasiou said he predicted that a gas field discovered in 2022 by Italy’s Eni and France’s TotalEnergies would be the first to come into production, around 2027, while another field operated by US company Chevron would be closer to 2029 or 2030.
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