Four licenses have been announced yesterday (31/10) by the Cypriot government as part of the second licensing round for offshore gas exploration in blocks 2, 3, 9 and 11. Blocks 2 and 3 went to the Italian ENI and the South-Korean KOGAS; Block 9 was won by France’s Total E&P Activities Petrolieres SA, Switzerland’s Novatec Overseas Exploration & Production GMbH, and Gazprom subsidiary GPB Global Resources BV; and the license for Block 11 went to Total E&P Activities Petrolieres. No Israeli company has won a license, despite a strong Israeli presence among candidates. Previously, the Israeli company Delek won a license for Block 12 in partnership with the American Noble Energy. The geographical diversity of the selected companies is interesting to highlight. EU membership or warm relations with certain countries do not automatically translate into exclusive partnerships, which might give a bigger margin of maneuver for the host country on more than one level (economic but also political etc.). The Cypriot experience could be interesting to follow for countries with a similar profile, like Lebanon.
