Eni has reported success at the Cronos-2 well offshore Cyprus, noting “excellent gas deliverability capacity” at the find.
The Italian company said that, based on the production test, the well could produce at more than 150 million cubic feet per day of gas. This is “instrumental in progressing with the studies to select the best fast-track development option”.
Eni is the operator of Block 6 offshore Cyprus, with a 50% stake. TotalEnergies holds the other 50%. The company used the Transocean Barents to carry out the work.
The company drilled Cronos-2 to follow up the Cronos-1 exploration well, around 3 km away. It drilled the first Cronos well in August 2022.
The second well was intended to confirm the lateral extension of the field and to assess reservoir characteristics.
Cronos-2 has the same carbonate reservoir sequence as the first well, it said. Results have confirmed hydraulic communication between the two, with a connected thick gas column with excellent permeability intervals.
TotalEnergies said the Cronos-2 had found net reservoir thickness of 115 metres, in several carbonate reservoir intervals.
Eni drilled the Calypso gas discovery on Block 6 in 2018 and Zeus in 2022.
“The successful appraisal of the Cronos gas discovery confirms the presence of significant resources and production potential in Block 6,” said TotalEnergies senior vice president for MENA Julien Pouget.
Development plans
“Full evaluation of the discovered resources will now be carried out to determine the best development option to contribute to supply gas to Europe and to the region.”
Eni, in late 2022 when it announced the Zeus discovery, said it was working on plans for a fast-track development on Block 6.
Floating LNG (FLNG) may be an option, as Eni has experience of this work in Mozambique and Congo Brazzaville. An alternative may be to pipe it into Egypt, where Eni has a stake in an onshore LNG facility.
Cyprus may be more likely to support a plan for local liquefaction – and potentially even domestic supplies. Chevron, which is working on the Aphrodite project, has encountered challenges over how best to move its gas field forward. The US company has a deadline of March 31 to submit an “optimal development plan”.
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