Cyprus has received six applications for three offshore blocks on offer in its third licensing round (OGJ Online, Mar. 28, 2016).
A subsidiary of Eni SPA, part of the joint venture that discovered giant Zohr natural gas field offshore Egypt to the south, participated in bids for all three blocks (OGJ Online, July 7, 2016).
The Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism offered the licenses under a model exploration and production-sharing contract.
Eni Cyprus Ltd. operates a combine with Total E&P Cyprus BV in an application for Block 6.
The company bid solo for Block 8, which also received an application for a group operated by Capricorn Oil (Cairn Energy) and including Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration. Delek Group is a partner in the Aphrodite discovery by Noble Energy Inc. off Cyprus, and it and Avner participated with Noble in the giant gas discoveries in Israeli waters nearby.
Block 10 received three applications: from an Eni-Total combine operated by Eni; from a combine operated by ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Cyprus (Offshore) Ltd. with Qatar Petroleum International Upstream OPC; and from Statoil Upsilon Netherlands BV bidding alone.