Talks on the Aphrodite field are continuing between Cyprus and lead project developer, Chevron.
Cyprus’ Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry said it had received a letter on December 1 from Chevron. The US company was said to have confirmed the two sides were aligned on “the wider framework of the field’s exploitation”.
The ministry said this set out a common understanding. As such, it continued, the two sides would intensify talks in the coming weeks. These would use the agreed development and production plan for Aphrodite.
Chevron told Energy Voice it continued to work with the ministry “to find a mutually agreeable solution for the development of Aphrodite”.
NewMed Energy, which has a 30% stake in the project, also took a more measured tone. The company said Chevron had asked to postpone the start of front-end engineering and design (FEED) work on Aphrodite.
NewMed said the reason for delay was to “to formulate, together with the Cypriot government … an optimal development plan”.
Cyprus, in 2019, agreed to a 25-year production licence on Aphrodite. Under this agreement, the companies agreed to begin FEED work by November 2023.
The companies and the government have struggled in the past over how best to develop the 124 billion cubic metres of gas in the field.
Chevron had planned to export the gas via a pipeline to infrastructure in Egyptian waters. Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, George Papanastasiou rejected the plan in August.
Cyprus is eager to capture more of the project’s upsides. The country will begin importing LNG in 2024. It is struggling with high power prices.
Aphrodite is in Block 12, 160 km south of Limassol and 30 km from Israel’s Leviathan. Noble Energy drilled the Aphrodite discovery in 2011.