Lefkosia, Cyprus – Appraisal drilling at “Glaucus- 2” well in Block 10 of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus is proceeding smoothly, Energy Minister Natasa Pilides said during a visit to the drilling – ship “Stena Forth” on January 14. The drilling is expected to be completed in March.
According to a press release issued by the Cyprus Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Pilides was briefed on the spot during a visit to the drilling rig along with US Ambassador to Cyprus Judith Garber, Deputy Government Spokeswoman Niovi Parisinou, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy Marios Panayides and ExxonMobil Cyprus Managing Director, Varnavas Theodosiou.
The exploration license is held by the consortium of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus (Offshore) Limited and Qatar Petroleum International Upstream LLC.
Speaking to reporters Pilides said that the drilling aims to evaluate the Glaucus reserves which initial drilling indicates they have high quality hydrocarbons estimated at 5-8 trillion cubic feet.
“Certainly, more work is needed to determine the quantity and to obtain more data, something which is already underway with the drilling that started on December 21 and we expect to be completed in March 2022”, she said.
“Work is progressing smoothly. This gives us great satisfaction. We believe that there is an excellent cooperation between the government agencies and the consortium, so that any challenges due to the pandemic or even arising from this work have been overcome so far without any problem. We hope to continue at this pace”, Minister Pilides added.
On behalf of ExxonMobil, Theodosiou said he was particularly happy to welcome at the ‘Stena Forth’ drilling rig Minister Pilides and other Government officials as well as the U.S. Ambassador so they could closely monitor the work underway in block 10. “Work started just before Christmas and is expected to be concluded in March. After completion data will be evaluated – a task that will take a few months- in order to reach safer conclusions regarding the quantity and quality of the natural gas in “Glaucus” reserves”, he said.
U.S. Ambassador Garber said that the United States has always supported the development of the natural gas resources discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean. “We believe they have the potential to bring tremendous benefits to all Cypriots as well as to promote greater cooperation and prosperity in the wider eastern Mediterranean region”, she said.
“We are working together with Cyprus and the European Union towards a fossil free energy future and these specific discoveries are going to be very important to this transition to greener and cleaner energy”, she added.
