Drilling Work begins in Block 5 of Cyprus’ EEZ

According to a post on social media platform X, drilling began Friday morning in Block 5’s gas reservoir named Electra, carried out by American multinational corporation ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy.

“Cyprus is proceeding with research activities, aiming to become an alternative and reliable source of Natural Gas for the EU,” Christodoulides said.

Cyprus issued a Navtex on Sunday in relation to the start of drilling at the Electra field.

According to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), the Navtex came into force on January 19 and will remain in force until June 19, 2025 with the drillship the Valaris DS-9 conducting the operations.

Energy Minister George Papanastasiou has said previously that the estimated timeframe stipulated in the Navtex would not need to be exhausted.

He said the drilling results were expected to be known by the end of February and an official announcement would be made at the end of March, following an evaluation on the quantities of the deposit.

In November, he had described ExxonMobil’s decision to drill in the areas as a “milestone”.

“Depending on the findings … the company will decide how to commercialise this particular deposit, and we hope that the deposit will be something which will open horizons different from the usual ones,” he said.

ExxonMobil vice president for global exploration John Ardill said he had informed President Nikos Christodoulides about plans to drill both in block 5 and in block 10, which contains the Glaucus natural gas deposit.

“We’ve spent the last two years collecting very detailed, three-dimensional seismic data… We’ve identified several large prospects, and the next stage is to bring in a drilling rig and to test those,” he said, adding, “we’ll spud our first well in mid-January, so we are very excited about that.”

Source: Cyprus Mail