Energean Updates Gas Offer to Cyprus

Energean Oil & Gas announced May 10 that it has submitted a new proposal to supply the Republic of Cyprus with natural gas from the deepwater Karish field offshore Israel.

The new tender would see the Greek company build a pipeline to link the Energean Power floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) to Vasilicos, Cyprus. Energean is targeting 1.3bn ft³ of gas and 16mn barrels of liquids (gross) at Karish North.

The FPSO, which is due to launch in March 2021, will handle production from the Karish and Tanin fields. It's processing and export capacity is planned at 8bn m³/yr. Energean had contracted to sell 4.6bn m³/yr by the end of 2018.

Energean proposed such a pipeline last year, but the Cypriot government said it preferred to call for bids for its own floating LNG import facility. Energean says its “updated proposal … is supplementary to the LNG import procedures launched by the Cypriot government.”

Energean states that the latest proposal “presents in detail the way natural gas will be imported to the Republic of Cyprus”. It adds that it believes the plan would offer Cyprus competitive pricing with no upfront infrastructure cost, improved energy market competition, improved security of supply, and a strengthened geopolitical role.

"We are at the disposal of the Cypriot government and the Cypriot authorities to discuss how this plan could be implemented so that Cyprus will be able to start using affordable natural gas in March 2021,” said Energean CEO Mathios Rigas.

Energean also announced that it has signed a letter of intent for supply of gas to “private power generation license holders in Cyprus,” noting that there are “now options for the supply of natural gas to private electricity producers”.