Two Russian companies are among the 29 groups and companies that have expressed interest in participating in the second phase of licensing for hydrocarbon exploitation in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus, said Wednesday Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou – Marcoullis in a press briefing in Moscow.
These companies are Novatec Overseas Exploration and Production in consortium with the French Total and GRB Global Resources BV, which is linked to Gazprom Bank.
Marcoullis welcomed the facts that no country or company has succumb to Turkish threats to withdraw interest. She added that the matter was raised and discussed during her meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and that the process will be completed by the end of 2012.
The Cypriot Minister said that tourism and its prospects is the most successful part of the cooperation between Russia and Cyprus, noting that last year there was a 40% increase in arrivals from Russia, a trend that the Cypriot government aims to enhance by opening three new consular offices in Russia for the operation of which the Russian side gave its approval in no time, as she said.
Asked about the issue of giving military facilities or a military base to Russia, Marcoullis denied strongly that such an issue was raised.
Invited to comment on the issue of granting a Russian loan to Cyprus, she said that she didn’t discussed the issue with Lavrov and that she doesn’t have any information on the arrival of a Cypriot delegation in Moscow.
The first licensing round, concluded in 2007, resulted in granting concessions to Houston-based “Noble Energy” for exploratory drilling in Cyprus’ EEZ block 12. Noble started drilling on September 2011 and the initial data that emerged from the exploratory drilling and the evaluation checks carried out, indicate the existence of a natural gas reservoir ranging from 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) with a gross mean of 7 tcf.
The government approved on November 23, 2011 the launch of a second licensing round for the remaining 12 offshore blocks, a decision published at the EU Official Journal on February 11, 2012.
Fifteen bids from five companies and 10 from joint ventures were submitted on the 11th of May for the second licensing round concerning the Republic of Cyprus’ offshore hydrocarbon reserves. Bids were submitted for 9 of the 12 offshore blocks, comprising the Cypriot EEZ.
