NICOSIA (Reuters) – An exploration drill by ExxonMobil offshore Cyprus has failed to find commercial quantities of natural gas, the island’s energy ministry said on Monday.
Drilling operations had been completed at the Elektra-1 well in Block 5 of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Cyprus, it said.
“Well data and preliminary evaluation work indicate the presence of natural gas in non-commercial quantities,” the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry said.
ExxonMobil executives had previously described the prospect, based on seismic data assessments, as promising.
The drill was conducted by a consortium of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus as operator, and with QatarEnergy Internation E&P LLC.
According to the operator’s early assessment post-drilling, Elektra-1 yielded encouraging results, confirming the existence of a hydrocarbon system and good quality reservoirs.
The data collected during the drilling operations was being evaluated to determine the consortium’s future plans in Block 5, the energy ministry said.
A drillship deployed by the consortium would now move to another block in Cyprus’s EEZ to conduct exploration drilling at another well, named Pegasus-1.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
