Over the past two decades an Israeli-American-led group of small and midsize oil companies has made a series of big discoveries in what is known as the Levantine basin, an area loosely bounded by Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt. “I am certain that gas will be the answer to our future,” said Charles Ellinas, chief executive of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Co., a state concern that was recently formed to help spearhead development of a Cypriot natural gas industry.Ĭyprus has the potential to become one of the hubs of an eastern Mediterranean region that could become an important source of natural gas for Europe, at a time when political unrest is making supplies from North Africa uncertain. That would be enough to supply Cyprus’s domestic needs for years and turn the debt-strapped country into an energy exporter. It is a significant find - potentially worth $45 billion or more at current prices, if it proves extractable. But based on that early look, the company estimates that the field contains 142 billion to 227 billion cubic meters, or 5 trillion to 8 trillion cubic feet, of gas. Noble Energy, the Houston-based company that found Aphrodite in 2011, has drilled only a single exploratory well in the mile-deep water 100 miles south of the island. ![]() ![]() ![]() There, about 1,700 meters below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, is a potentially lucrative natural gas field called Aphrodite. LONDON - If there are any bright spots in the gloom surrounding the economy of Cyprus, one place to look would be about 170 kilometers south of the coastal city of Limassol.
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