THE COUNTRY manager for Noble Energy International has said that his company should lead hydrocarbon development, arguing that including other companies at this stage would only delay progress for years.
John Z Tomich said that building a gas pipeline to reach the Cyprus coast would cost around €1.0 billion, “maybe more”.
“The size of the Cyprus market is not that big and does not justify such a large cost,” Tomich said.
Tomich argued that because of the cost, parallel to building a pipeline, a larger investment needed to take place to create a terminal liquefaction plant to enable gas exportation and render the project profitable.
Tomich argued against delaying such development until further blocks in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone were explored and more companies were included in building the necessary infrastructure.
“If we wait for the engagement of more companies we will lose five or more years. I do not think that is the best solution,” Tomich said.
Tomich said that it would be preferable if Noble led developments going ahead with the construction of a liquefaction plant.
He said that other companies could participate in the investment at a later stage.
“No one will leave them out,” Tomich said.
Tomich said that the estimated mean range of seven trillion cubic feet in Cyprus’ block 12 of its exclusive economic zone could not be confirmed on just one round of exploratory drilling.
He said that a second exploratory drilling scheduled for autumn or mid-2012 could either raise or lower estimations.
However, he said indications were “encouraging”.
Tomich said they would be drilling both to confirm Noble’s preliminary findings but also to explore Block 12 further.
The block “is very large, about 100 square kilometres, and we definitely need to verify current data so we will proceed with at least one more exploratory drilling,” Tomich said.
Because of the block’s size, Noble is also “studying the rest of the block because (Aphrodite field where gas was found) is a small part of the whole block,” Tomich said adding that further explorations might be justified.
Tomich said that no oil had as of yet been discovered in Cyprus or Israel’s exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
The preliminary gas findings in Cyprus EEZ alone are significant enough to support investment, Tomich said.
“The sooner we start, the sooner Cyprus will have natural gas to cover its needs,” Tomich said.
Tomich was talking to daily newspapers Phileleftheros and Politis.
