Cyprus offshore - Oil & gas potential opportunities

Background

Cyprus has attracted increasing prominence as an international financial centre since its 2004 full accession into the EU. With a fully EU compliant taxation system, a highly educated workforce and open economy, the island has featured in the structures of an increasing number of large MNCs, including leading oil and gas Groups.

The island not only lies at the crossroads of big international energy routes but in all probability is surrounded by substantial oil and gas resources, a significant part of which falls within the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone. Assessments by USGS bring the level of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean to a total of 3.4 bbl for oil and circa 345 tcf for natural gas. Israel has already announced findings at Dalit, Tamar and Leviathan totalling 30tcf of natural gas and still unproven quantities of oil. Even more significant undiscovered hydrocarbon resources are said to exist at the west of the island.

To date 13 exploration blocks have been defined by the Republic of Cyprus at the south of the island following international bilateral agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Israel. Substantial geological and geophysical data has been gathered the last few years for a number of these blocks and are available in the form of Multi Client Seismic Surveys and Interpretation Reports.

The Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Energy Service of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and other government agencies has put together a number of Laws and Regulations since 2007, governing hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in Cyprus. Cyprus has completed a 1st licensing round for exploration rights in August 2007 with one exploration licence awarded for Block 12 to Noble Energy International Limited. Drilling for the first exploratory well commenced September 2011.

The 2nd licensing round is expected to take place at the end of calendar 2011 /beginning of 2012. In addition the Government of Cyprus is currently evaluating proposals submitted for the construction of an energy centre, which includes an LNG plant and scheduled to start operating onshore Cyprus by 2019.

How can PwC help you

In PwC Cyprus we work with a large number of international and local energy companies in all operational areas of the oil and gas industry. We have a local t multi-disciplined team of dedicated professionals and we work closely with a number of our 3,000 full time network specialists, who are primarily located in PwC Centres of Excellence for oil and gas in key energy regions of the world.

Drawing from the know-how and expertise of almost 1,000 professionals locally and 160,000 globally we deliver tailored solutions and can support you in the following areas:

For more than 100 years we have helped energy companies succeed. We look forward to the opportunity to work with you!