The drill ship Saipem 10000 hired by the ENI-KOGAS consortium arrived Tuesday at the point in Block 9 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where it will make its first exploratory drilling at the ‘Onasagoras’ gasfield.
“Saipem drill ship at Point Zero in Cyprus EEZ. So far all according to plan. Results in ~80 days”, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis posted on his Twitter account .
The President of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company, Toula Onoufriou, told the Cyprus News Agency that the drilling will begin “very soon.”
She said that the ENI-KOGAS consortium has planned a series of exploratory drillings over the next 18 months.
“Through this program that has been accelerated, we expect to have sooner, more concrete results, which will allow us to have a clearer picture of the data, to take important decisions on the exploitation and the future of this industry in our country”, Onoufriou said.
The drilling in block 9 will be the first by the ENI-KOGAS consortium with in its three license blocks 2, 3 and 9.
According to Onoufriou, drilling in such depth is expected to take about 80 days to be completed. After that, she added, the consortium will process the data and then there will be a clearer picture of the results.
EARLIER REPORT:
ENI-KOGAS drilling to start “in a few days”
Larnaca marina plan “unaffected”
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Offshore drilling operations by the ENI-KOGAS joint venture in blocks 2, 3 and 9 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will begin within the next few days, Energy and Trade Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said on Monday, addressing a meeting of Larnaca Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Lakkotrypis also said that the use of Larnaca port to provide facilities to these operations does not hamper the intended development of the town’s marina.
The government agreed last month to give the Larnaca marina’s Zenon joint venture until December to find investors to finance the project so that groundbreaking could begin within 2015.
As regards natural gas supply, Lakkotrypis said that efforts are being made to reduce the cost of the fuel used for electricity production, through the interim solution of natural gas supply to Cyprus.
Moreover, he added, “we are intensifying our efforts to promote renewable energy sources and energy saving, mainly by implementing projects and schemes for subsidies through EU funds earmarked for the 2014-2020 period.”
The minister said that the cabinet decision taken in July to move the petroleum and gas installations away from Larnaca is extremely important, as this has been a long-standing demand of the town’s municipality.
Referring to further development and modernisation of enterprises, Lakkotrypis said that the ministry has included a scheme for the promotion of e-commerce in the schemes for the 2014-2020 programme period.
He said a total of 3.4 mln euros will be disbursed during this period, and the scheme that will be officially endorsed by the beginning of 2015 will be co-funded by the Cyprus government and the EU Regional Development Fund.
Lakkotrypis added that it was very important that schemes aiming to boost business innovation, amounting to 30 mln euros, will also be promoted in the framework of the 2014-2020 Structural Funds.
He noted that the first of these schemes, amounting to 10 mln euros, will be announced in October and the rest during the first six months of 2015.
As regards tourism, Lakkotrypis said that supporting tourism is among the main priorities of the government, noting that arrivals increased by 5.9% by August and income from tourism by 11.6% in June. He noted that the government is proceeding with the implementation of its strategy aiming at promoting Cyprus’ tourist product, with the construction of important infrastructure projects such as the integrated casino resort.
