Greek and Cypriot media reported on Thursday an initial failure in Exxon Mobil’s campaign to discover natural gas in the area dubbed ”Delfini”, in Block 10 of the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
According to a statement made by Cyprus‘ minister of Energy, Georgios Lakkotrypis, the American giant Exxon Mobil will be forced to drill a second time. Exxon, which has the full rights to explore Block 10’s resources, must drill again in the area called ”Glafkos”, before an official announcement on the results of the research can be made.
After the second drilling, the Cypriot Government, along with Exxon Mobil, will announce the oil and gas exploration results for the entire area of Block 10 of the Cypriot EEZ.
Lakkotrypis also announced that their and gas consortium ENI-TOTAL will begin a new round of drillings in Block 3 during the year 2019, and their exploration is expected to conclude in 2020.
Last year, the Turkish navy attempted to stop the Italian energy company ENI as it conducted research in the ”Soupia” area of Block 3, an occurrence Cyprus hopes will not be repeated again.
However, all is not lost regarding this single failure of Exxon Mobil to find natural gas in the ”Delfini” area. Greek and Cypriot media note that experts have said in the past that the peculiarities of the area call for a second re-examination, and another, deeper, drilling, before any conclusions can be made.
Over the last decade, Cyprus has attempted to explore the resources inside its EEZ, based on a systematic plan and multilateral alliances with Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Greece. Their explorations have met continued strong opposition by the nation of Turkey.
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