Gas discovery at Cyprus by Eni and Total gives Europe more options | Popgen Tech

NICOSIA/MILAN, Dec 21 (Reuters) – A consortium of Italy’s Eni and France’s TotalEnergies has found more natural gas off Cyprus, boosting Europe’s hopes of a clean break from Russian gas.

An estimated preliminary amount of 2.0-3.0 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas was found at the Zeus 1 well in an offshore area known as Block 6, the two companies and the country’s energy ministry said on Wednesday.

This is the third consecutive discovery in Block 6 and “confirms the promising prospects for the area and its development”, Eni said.

The eastern Mediterranean has yielded some of the biggest natural gas discoveries in the past decade and Wednesday’s discovery comes as the European Union looks for new gas supply sources after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The consortium reported an estimated discovery of 2.5 tcf in the Cronos-1 well in Block 6 in August, and quantities found in Calypso-1 in 2018.

Cyprus has licensed several blocks surrounding its southern coast. It reported its first natural gas discovery in 2011, although quantities have yet to come online.

Its exploration program is fiercely contested by Turkey, which invaded Cyprus’s northern third in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Ankara cites overlapping jurisdictions either on its own continental shelf, or in waters of a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state recognized only in northern Cyprus.

Cyprus’s internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government, which is considered representative of the entire island, rejects these claims. (Reporting by Michele Kambas in Nicosia and in Federico Maccioni in Milan; Editing by Mark Potter and Arun Koyyur)