President of the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company Toula Onoufriou, has told CNA said that drilling in bloc 9 will begin very soon, ‘Famagusta Gazette’ reports.
Drill ship Saipem 10000 of the ENI/KOGAS consortium arrived Tuesday, at 16.32 (local time) at the location where it will make an exploratory drilling at “Onasagoras” gas field of South Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) bloc 9.
South Cyprus’ Minister of Energy Giorgos Lakkotrypis, tweeted “Saipem drill ship at Point Zero in the South’s EEZ. So far all according to plan. Results in “80 days”.
Onoufriou previously said that the ENI/KOGAS consortium has planned a series of exploratory drillings over the next 18 months. She noted that these drillings will determine the sector’s development in South Cyprus.
“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”, said Onoufriou.
The drilling in the bloc “will be the first of the drillings included in the program of the ENI-KOGAS consortium to blocs 2, 3, and 9 of the South’s EEZ”, she said.
According to Onoufriou, a drilling at such a depth should take about 80 days to be completed. Following which, she added, the consortium will process the data to clarify the results of the drilling.
