Cyprus was prepared for the possibility that no hydrocarbon reserves would be found in the Onasagoras area in block 9 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Minister of Energy Giorgos Lakkotrypis told journalists on Friday announcing the preliminary results of the exploratory drilling of Italian-South Korean consortium ENI/KOGAS, according to which no exploitable quantities of hydrocarbons were found in Onasagoras.

The Minister underlined that the government will focus on the commercial exploitation of “the very important” field of Aphrodite in block 12 of Cyprus’ EEZ, “the soonest possible”, noting that discussions on the issue are very advanced.

Referring to Onasagoras, he said that on international level drillings in sea depths like in Cyprus have a technical chance of success of only 26%.

Source: CNA