Cyprus receives six new applications for gas drilling

Cyprus has received six applications from eight international energy companies for offshore gas exploratory drilling, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Friday.

Cyprus had put up three blocks of its exclusive economic zone off its south shores in the latest round of licensing.

The names of the bidding companies will be announced next Wednesday, after the Council of Ministers being briefed, he said.

Sources said among the energy companies is French Total and Italian ENI, which have already obtained concessions on other blocks of Cyprus's continental shelf.

"Given the challenging conditions in the global hydrocarbon industry, we aimed at attracting companies which are both financially sound and experienced in exploratory drilling and gas development," said Lakkotrypis after the end of the deadline for submitting proposals.

He said that bids have been submitted from companies which had not taken part in the two previous rounds of bidding.

Cyprus has already licensed exploration in five other blocks of its continental shelf.

Texas-based Noble Energy has already discovered a gas field and Total and ENI are in the process of either evaluating data or preparing for exploration drilling early in 2017.

A press release from the Energy Ministry said that the six new applications will be evaluated by an ad hoc committee which will prepare a report with its recommendations.

The final licensing will done by the Council of Ministers after a negotiating round by a team of experts with interested companies.

Energy is expected to be one of the subjects to be discussed on Sunday between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The two countries are already engaged in negotiations for jointly developing gas fields discovered in adjacent blocks in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean. Endit