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Cyprus to launch oil exploration licence tenders
AFP
NICOSIA
Petroleumworld.com 01 26 06Cyprus will launch a five-month round of tenders for oil exploration and drilling licences off its south coast on February 15, officials said on Thursday.
Commerce Minister Antonis Michaelides told reporters after briefing foreign ambassadors that a first round of tenders would end on July 16 amid encouraging signs of offshore oil and natural gas deposits.
"All signs from seismic tests conducted so far are sufficiently encouraging," Michaelides said, adding that the ambassadors were briefed so they could inform companies interested in buying exploration and drilling rights in the island's exclusive economic zone.
Chinese Ambassador Zhao Yali said a "large company" specialising in oil exploration and drilling from his country "has shown great interest" in Cyprus's hydrocarbon potential.
"With the help of the Cyprus government and the work we will do, we believe that we will have very good results," Zhao told reporters.
Norwegian oil exploration company PGS Geophysical AS has conducted two-dimensional seismic scans across the Cypriot zone's 60,000 square kilometres (24,000 square miles).
On January 17 Cyprus and Lebanon signed an agreement for the delineation of an undersea border to facilitate future oil and gas exploration.
In May last year, Cyprus and Egypt signed agreements covering joint exploration of oil and natural gas deposits that may straddle the median line separating the two countries' exclusive economic zones.
AFP 25 1911 GMT 01 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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