NICOSIA: Cyprus is pressing ahead with a search for oil and gas amid encouraging signs that deposits could lie beneath the seabed between the island and Egypt, Commerce Minister George Lillikas said Monday. The chances are quite high in light of results from searches carried out by Egypt in an area not far from the boundary delineating the exclusive economic zones of both countries, Lillikas told a news conference. Cyprus and Egypt earlier this month signed five cooperation deals, including two agreements on crude oil and gas prospecting, during a visit to Cairo by President Tassos Papadopoulos. The Cyprus government has remained tight-lipped about the details of its oil exploration bid, but Lillikas broke the official silence. He said the first agreement with Egypt covered joint exploitation of oil and natural gas deposits, possibly straddling the median line separating the two countries exclusive economic zones. The second was on the exchange of confidential scientific and technical data. Lillikas said a particularly successful search for oil and natural gas inside Egypt s zone impelled Nicosia to commission seismic tests by Norwegian oil exploration company PGS Geophysical AS over the entire length of the island s economic zone. The positive findings in the seas off Egypt and the encouraging initial findings from our area finally led to the two-dimensional seismic scans in Cyprus s exclusive economic zone, said Lillikas. The Cypriot minister said seismic data collected from half of the Cypriot zone s 60,000 square km was being processed by PGS and the results were expected by the end of July. French consulting firm Beicip Franlap will conduct an independent evaluation of the findings for the Cyprus government to gauge the prospects of a major crude or natural gas find, he said. PGS would follow up its two-dimensional scans of the seabed with 3-D images after the island s economic zone is carved up into blocks. That would enable oil companies to bid for individual blocks and conduct exploratory drilling there after purchasing PGS data and the Beicip Franlap evaluation. Lillikas said that all costs would be shouldered exclusively by oil companies which would be obliged to start drilling within two years of signing any agreement with Nicosia. The minister said that under production-sharing agreements with oil companies, Cyprus would receive three-quarters of all drilling revenues. We have avoided any reference to possible quantities or possible revenues. We don t want to incite premature expectations among the public. What we can say at this time is that the first signals we have received are positive and encouraging, said Lillikas. AFP
Seabed between Egypt and Cyprus shows signs of containing oil deposits
