John Tomich, head of US Noble Energy, announced on Saturday that an oil rig will arrive later today on location to carry out an appraisal well in Cypriot block 12 gas field.
After discovering a gross reserve of 7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in late 2011 in A1 well in block 12, Noble will carry out an appraisal well later this month. For this purpose ENSCO 5006, a semi submersible rig is being currently towed to block 12 after drilling an exploratory well in Israel`s Karish which revealed a gross mean resource of 1 tcf.
"The rig is actually due to arrive sometime later today on location and we will immediately commence to deploy anchors," John Tomich said speaking during the inauguration ceremony of EDT Offshore. EDT`s facilities include a mud-plant, to be used for the appraisal wells in the Cyprus Block 12 A-1 field.
Addressing the ceremony, Cyprus Minister of Communications and Works, Tasos Mitsopoulos said the promotion and implementation of development projects constitutes a primary target for the government in an effort to tackle the adverse economic conditions the country is facing.
He congratulated EDT which has invested €31 million in its facility at Limassol port.
On his part, EDT Managing Director, Darios Melas said that the potential of the offshore industry together with the natural gas are limitless, adding that "upon confirmation of these first reserves, we hope that Cyprus will become one of the key players in the region."
Following the discovery in block 12 by Noble, Cyprus granted concessions for natural gas exploration to ENI/KOGAS consortium in blocks 2, 3 and 9 within Cyprus’ EEZ and Total for blocks 10 and 11.
"EDT intends to be part of this exciting development in the evolution of Cyprus and plans to make even further investments to support it, to provide jobs and opportunities and to set the highest possible standards," Melas added.
Tomich said the EDT’s shore base represents a significant chapter in the establishment of an offshore oil and gas industry in Cyprus. "This industry will require great deal of infrastructure development and has the potential to provide the people of Cyprus with jobs, a robust revenue for many years to come", he went on to say.
