ExxonMobil and partner Qatar Energy find new natural gas deposit off Cyprus
New natural gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean could help Europe lessen its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons by diversifying its energy supply and help buttress a budding energy partnership between Cyprus, Greece and Israel, said John Sitilides, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and geopolitical strategist at Trilogy Advisors in Washington.
'Washington and Brussels would be wise to support this hydrocarbon network to develop a greater measure of critical energy independence for Europe's hopeful re-industrialization,' Sitilides said.
Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a written statement that the ExxonMobil's vice president, John Ardill, briefed Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides about the discovery at the Pegasus-1 well during a teleconference.
The well was discovered about 190 kilometers (118 miles) southwest of Cyprus at a depth of 1,921 meters (6,302 feet) of water. No estimates of the quantity of natural gas were given. The statement said more assessments will be conducted in the coming months to evaluate the results.
The ExxonMobil-Qatar Energy consortium holds exploration licenses for two areas — or blocks — inside Cyprus' exclusive economic zone. In 2019, the consortium discovered the Glaucus-1 well inside the same Block 10 where the Pegasus-1 well is located. Cypriot authorities say Glaucus-1 is estimated to contain 3.7 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Overall, Pegasus-1 is the sixth natural gas deposit to be discovered inside Cyprus' economic zone in the last 14 years. Other deposits include the Zeus, Cronos and Calypso wells, which lie inside Block 6 that is operated by a consortium made up of Italy's Eni and Total of France. Cronos is estimated to hold 3.1 trillion cubic feet of gas and Zeus 2.5 trillion cubic feet. Calypso is still being evaluated.
The Eni-Total consortium holds exploration licenses for four blocks.
The earliest field to be discovered, Aphrodite, is estimated to hold 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas. The field is inside Block 12, which is operated by a consortium made up of Chevron, NewMed Energy and Shell.
Agreements with Egypt foresee gas from the Cronos and Aphrodite fields to be sent to Egypt via a pipeline for either domestic use or to be processed at Egyptian facilities for export to Europe and other markets.
Cyprus' Energy Minister George Panastasiou also said that ExxonMobil, Eni and Total could partner up to jointly develop their gas deposits found in close proximity to each other.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
an hour ago
Russian drone and cruise missile attacks kill at least 2 in Ukraine
At least four people were killed overnight and on Saturday morning as Russia continued to pound Ukraine with hundreds of drones and cruise missiles as part of a stepped-up bombing campaign that has further dampened hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the more than three-year-old war. Two people died and 14 were wounded when Russian forces overnight attacked the Bukovina area in the Chernivtsi region of southwestern Ukraine with four drones and a missile, regional Gov. Ruslan Zaparaniuk said Saturday. He said that the two people died due to falling debris from a drone. A drone attack in Ukraine's western Lviv region wounded nine people, regional Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three people were wounded in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine when the city was hit by eight drones and two missiles, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Russia fired 597 drones and decoys, along with 26 cruise missiles, into Ukraine overnight into Saturday, Ukraine's air force said. Of these, 319 drones and 25 cruise missiles were shot down and 258 decoy drones were lost, likely having been electronically jammed. Following the overnight attacks, two people were killed Saturday morning in a missile strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to regional Gov. Serhii Lysak. Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities. Earlier this week, Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks and targeting Lutsk near the border with Poland in western Ukraine, a region that is a crucial hub for receiving foreign military aid. Poland's air force scrambled fighter jets in areas bordering Ukraine in response to the overnight attacks, Polish officials said. Russia's intensifying long-range attacks have coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure. Russia's Defense Ministry said it shot down 33 Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday.
an hour ago
Russia warns US, South Korea and Japan against forming security alliance targeting North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea -- Russia's foreign minister on Saturday warned the U.S., South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited his country's ally for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to North Korea's eastern Wonsan city on Friday for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui. Relations between Russia and North Korea have been flourishing in recent years, with North Korea supplying troops and ammunitions to support Russia's war against Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. That has raised concerns among South Korea, the U.S. and others that Russia might also transfer to North Korea sensitive technologies that can increase the danger of its nuclear and missile programs. After a meeting with Choe on Saturday, Lavrov accused the U.S., South Korea and Japan of what he called their military buildups around North Korea. 'We warn against exploiting these ties to build alliances directed against anyone, including North Korea and, of course, Russia,' he told reporters, according to Russia's state Tass news agency. The U.S., South Korea and Japan have been expanding or restoring their trilateral military exercises in response to North Korea's advancing nuclear program. On Friday, the three countries held a joint air drill involving U.S. nuclear-capable bombers near the Korean Peninsula, as their top military officers met in Seoul and urged North Korea to cease all unlawful activities that threaten regional security. North Korea views major U.S.-led military drills as invasion rehearsals. It has long argued that it's forced to develop nuclear weapons to defend itself from U.S. military threats. Lavrov said Russia understands North Korea's decision to seek nuclear weapons. 'The technologies used by North Korea are the result of the work of its own scientists. We respect North Korea's aspirations and understand the reasons why it is pursuing a nuclear development,' Lavrov said. During their meeting, Choe reiterated that North Korea 'unconditionally' supports Russia's fight against Ukraine. She described ties between North Korea and Russia as 'the invincible alliance.' Lavrov said he repeated Russia's gratitude for the contribution that North Korean troops made in efforts to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk border region. Wonsan city, the meeting venue, is where North Korea recently opened a mammoth beach resort that it says can accommodate nearly 20,000 people. In his comments at the start of his meeting with Choe, Lavrov said that 'I am sure that Russian tourists will be increasingly eager to come here. We will do everything we can to facilitate this, creating conditions for this, including air travel,' according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Wonsan-Kalma tourist zone is at the center of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's push to boost tourism as a way to improve his country's troubled economy. But prospects for the biggest tourist complex in North Korea aren't clear, as the country appears unlikely to fully reopen its borders and embrace Western tourists anytime soon.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Chevron says offshore well start-up caused Mars crude quality issues
By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) -The start-up of an offshore well caused zinc contamination in Mars crude, Chevron said on Friday, leading to the tightening crude oil supply in the key Gulf Coast refining hub and the government releasing barrels from its emergency stockpile. Inventories of crude oil along the U.S. Gulf Coast had fallen to their lowest seasonally in seven years at the end of last week, thanks to recent wildfires in Canada that cut supplies and cancellations of licenses that allowed for U.S. import of Venezuelan crude. The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday said it would provide up to 1 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Exxon Mobil's Baton Rouge refinery in Louisiana, citing an offshore supply disruption. Exxon told its trading counterparts that it will not buy the Mars crude oil grade until the zinc contamination issue is fixed, Reuters reported on Thursday. The oil major requested the barrels from the SPR after the zinc contamination was identifiecrud in Mars crude, two sources familiar with the matter said. Mars, a medium sour crude produced off the coast of Louisiana, is preferred by refineries along the Gulf Coast because of its properties and proximity. Refiners are typically configured to run certain grades of oil for ideal yields of different types of fuels. Switching to other crude grades can be operationally challenging and limit production, shrinking margins. The exchange of oil was authorized to help maintain stable regional supply of transportation fuels across Louisiana and the broader Gulf Coast, the DOE said, adding that the exchange will not impact or delay the department's ongoing efforts to refill the reserve. Exxon will resupply the crude, along with additional barrels to the SPR, the department added. Exxon declined to provide additional details. Zinc does not typically occur naturally in crude oil and industry sources said they worried that running crude with zinc could cause damage to refining units and to catalysts used in processing oil. TIGHT SUPPLY, STRONG DEMAND The Mars crude stream is a mix of oil from various platforms off the Gulf Coast. About 575,000 barrels per day of oil move on the Mars system to the coast, according to research firm Energy Aspects. Prices for Mars traded on Friday at a 15-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub. It had eased to as little as a 10-cent discount earlier in the week, compared with a $1 premium at the end of June. Chevron said it was working to resolve issues and it does not expect an impact to current production guidance. Supplies of medium and heavy crude oil along the U.S. Gulf have tightened in recent months as Washington in late May terminated a group of licenses that had authorized partners of oil company PDVSA to take Venezuelan crude bound for U.S. and European refineries. Declining oil production in Mexico has also reduced exports to the U.S., while the recent wildfires in Canada also cut supplies that are usually imported. The opening of the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline last year has also redirected some Canadian oil flows to China and the U.S. West Coast, rather than the U.S. Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, demand for refined products, including gasoline and distillates, rose to 20.9 million bpd last week, the highest seasonally in five years thanks to strong driving demand.
