Cyprus investigating whether Zohr Egyptian gas field extents into Cypriot EEZ

Cyprus is investigating whether the giant Egyptian offshore Zohr natural gas field extends into its exclusive economic zone, Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said on Tuesday.

"We are already working on the geological evidence and we will have a certain picture in the coming days," said Lakkotrypis.

The Zohr field was discovered by Italy's energy company ENI in a drilling which is only six km away from the borderline with block 11 of the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

ENI said the Zohr gas field extends to 100 square km but it did not say in which direction or where its drilling was done relative to the center of the field.

"Two things must extend to our EEZ to have a shared field, the geological structure of the sea bed and the gas field as such," said Lakkotrypis.

It is estimated that the Zohr field contains 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and is believed to be the largest gas field in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cyprus and Egypt have an agreement for joint exploitation of borderline gas fields.

A similar agreement has been signed by Cyprus and Israel for their adjoining offshore gas areas.

Lakkotrypis said that the discovery of the Zohr find is encouraging as similar geological strata exist in Cyprus' continental shelf. Endit