A consortium of Italy’s Eni and France’s Total Energy found another natural gas field in Cyprus. This may reinforce Europe’s hope that it will be able to disengage from Russian natural gas.
According to preliminary estimates published by the two companies in mid-December, about 60,000 to 70,000 bcm of natural gas was found in the Zeus 1 well in the offshore area known as Block 6. For comparison: the EU’s annual gas consumption is estimated at 400 bcm. cubic meters, and in peacetime, Russia delivered almost 150 billion cubic meters to Europe annually.
This is the third consecutive test drilling in Block 6 and “confirms the promising prospects of the area,” Eni said in a statement.
Cyprus has licensed exploration in several areas bordering its southern coast, and reported its first natural gas discovery in 2011. The exploration program is highly criticized by Turkey, which has long been in conflict – mainly with Greece – in the area and occupies the northern third of Cyprus.
Good news is constantly coming from there
As we reported in August, a large gas field was discovered south of Cyprus. The discovery was also made by the Italian-French consortium Eni-Total during its research work. This gas field may contain about 70 billion cubic meters of high-quality natural gas.
In a statement, the Italian energy company Eni spoke of an “important discovery” made at a depth of 2,287 meters, 160 kilometers south of Cyprus, which could be good news for Italian energy policy. News agencies confirmed that this also gives Europe an opportunity to become independent from Russian gas supplies. However, we will have to wait another year before extraction begins.
(Cover image: Shutterstock)
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