* Energy Minister in UK and US to promote third licensing round for offshore exploration *
Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis has embarked on yet another whirlwind tour to the UK and the US this week, as the government opens up the third licensing round for the offshore exploration of blocks 6, 8 and 10 in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The deadline for applications for the next hydrocarbon exploration licenses is July 22.
Lakkotrypis will meet with energy company officials in London on Wednesday morning and in the afternoon he will travel to Houston, Texas for a series of meetings to take place on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday Lakkotrypis is set to attend an event during which he will present the recent energy developments in the eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus’ strategy for the further exploitation of its natural gas reserves.
Meanwhile, senior officials from Israeli and Italian energy giants met with President Nicos Anastasiades to express their commitment in their offshore investments.
Yaniv Friedman, CEO of Israel’s Delek told reporters that during the meeting he "stressed Delek’s commitment to Cyprus", to the cooperation between Cyprus and Israel, and to the development of the ‘Aphrodite’ natural gas reserve in block 12, in which it is a minority shareholder together with Avner and Noble Energy.
Regarding the latter, Friedman noted that "we would like to accelerate this and move this project forward as soon as possible".
He also noted that the company is moving forward with plans for the ‘Leviathan’ reservoir, off Israel, and expressed his hope for close cooperation between the two countries and the two projects.
On his part, Claudio Descalzi, CEO of ENI, expressed the Italian company’s "commitment, engagement and willingness to continue to stay here to invest and possibly to win to immediately work on the new blocks".
Moreover, the CEO of ENI announced that new drilling will take place in 2017. ENI is already licensed for blocks 2, 3 and 9 in Cyprus’ EEZ.
Descalzi said he had a very good meeting with the President. "We came here to express our commitment, our engagement in the country" he noted.
He said moreover that they discussed the existing planning concerning the three blocks, as well as the third licensing round. On the latter, Descalzi said that the company has to express its interest in a couple of weeks, "so it is very soon".
The ENI chief said that they also discussed with the President the eastern Mediterranean gas hub, which he said is becoming more and more important, with the cooperation between Cyprus, Egypt and Israel.
He said that ENI is the first operator in the Mediterranean sea, not only in Egypt, but also in Libya, Nigeria and Tunisia. "We want to use our expertise, our experience and our position to be very active also in Cyprus" he concluded.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said that the increased interest displayed by energy companies was a vote of confidence, both in the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus, but also the region in general.
Christodoulides announced that another meeting will be held on Wednesday with officials from French giant Total.
Moreover, Christodoulides underlined that no pipeline to Turkey will go through Cyprus’ EEZ prior to a settlement on the island, as had been suggested by Turkish officials.
Asked about the development of the "Aphrodite" gasfield, off Cyprus' southern coast, Christodoulides said a new development plan was laid out, following the addition of BG to the consortium operating the field.
Last November, BG Group announced that it had taken a 35% holding in block 12 offshore Cyprus, which includes the "Aphrodite" gas discovery. Noble Energy retains a 35% stake in the offshore field, while Delek owns the remaining 30%.
Commenting on reports about the construction of a pipeline from Israel to Turkey through Cyprus’ EEZ, the Spokesman said that no such request has been received from Israel. He added that President Anastasiades has clarified the position of the Republic of Cyprus, during his frequent talks with the Prime Minister of Israel, noting that this can not be done without a Cyprus solution.
"Everybody realises that it is not possible for a country under occupation to approve a pipeline that reaches the occupation force. Therefore, the examination and implementation of this scenario needs to be preceded by a Cyprus solution," he said.
