Eni at ‘final stage' of decision to develop Cronos gas field off Cyprus, says COO

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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Italian energy company Eni said Thursday it is in the “final stage” of deciding whether to go ahead with developing a natural gas field off Cyprus that could deliver the hydrocarbon to European markets within two years.

Eni has a reputation for expediting energy projects but a few documents still need to be finalized before work to extract natural gas from the Cronos deposit can begin, Chief Operating Officer Guido Brusco told told The Associated Press.

“There are a few things missing which we believe to close very soon,” said Brusco, adding that it's possible for gas to reach European markets by the end of next year or early 2028 “if we complete our homework.”

Cronos is one of three natural gas deposits that Eni and its French partner TotalEnergies discovered in Block 6 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. It’s is estimated to hold 3.4 trillion cubic feet of the hydrocarbon.

Eni and Total hold exploration licenses for four of 13 sections of Cyprus’ economic zone. ExxonMobil is licensed for one block abutting Block 6, where the company made two significant discoveries.

A consortium of Chevron, Shell and Israeli company NewMed Energy are licensed for another block, where the Aphrodite field — which is estimated to hold 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas — is located.

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told Brusco during a meeting Thursday that he expects the deal to be finalized by March 30 when he will attend Egypt’s EGYPES energy show at the invitation of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

“We must have everything completed by March 30," Christodoulides said. "Our team is ready, we’ve had discussions with the Egyptian petroleum minister, for us it’ll be the first field to be developed from our exclusive economic zone. It’s very important for our country, our economy, our people.”

Gas from Cronos could be piped to a processing plant in the Egyptian port city of Damietta using infrastructure already in place to convey gas from Egypt’s massive Zor deposit around 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. The Damietta processing plant would liquefy the gas for transport to European markets by sea.