Eni has announced a ”significant” gas discovery in the Cronos-1 well drilled in Block 6, 160km off Cyprus coastline, in 2,287m of water depth.
The Block is operated by Eni Cyprus holding 50% interest with TotalEnergies as partner.
Preliminary estimates indicate about 2.5TCF of gas in place, with significant additional upside that will be investigated by a further exploration well in the area.
The well has encountered an important gas column in a carbonate reservoir sequence of fair to excellent properties.
The intense data acquisition campaign has shown an overall net pay of more than 260m with intervals owning excellent permeability and studies on a fast-track development options are already ongoing.
Cronos-1 well is the fourth exploration well drilled by Eni Cyprus and second well in Block 6, following the gas discovery of Calypso-1 in 2018.
The gas discovery of Cronos-1 can unlock additional potential in the area and is part of Eni’s successful effort to provide further gas supply to Europe.
The discovery confirms the effectiveness of Eni’s exploration strategy aimed at creating value through its deep knowledge of geological plays and the application of advanced geophysical technologies.
Eni has been present in Cyprus since 2013. The dompany operates Blocks 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9, and has participating interests in Blocks 7 and 11 operated by TotalEnergies.
Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President, Exploration at TotalEnergies, said, “This successful exploration well at Cronos-1 is another illustration of the impact of our Exploration strategy which is focused on discovering resources with low technical cost and low carbon emissions, to contribute to energy security including to provide an additional sources of gas supply to Europe.”
Earlier this month Eni bought Export LNG, which owns the Tango FLNG floating liquefaction facility, from Exmar group.
The facility will be used by Eni in the Republic of Congo, as part of the activities of the natural gas development project in the Marine XII block, in line with Eni’s strategy to leverage gas equity resources.
The Tango FLNG, built in 2017, has a treatment capacity of approximately 3m standard cubic meters/day and an LNG production capacity of approximately 0.6 million tons per year (about 1bn standard cubic metres/year).
The acquisition allows the development of a fast-track model capable of seizing the opportunities of the LNG market. In addition, the high flexibility and mobility characteristics of the Tango FLNG will favour the development and enhancement of Eni’s equity gas by accelerating production start-up time.
Tango FLNG will begin its activity in Congo in the second half of 2023, following the completion of mooring and connection works necessary to tie with the Marine XII network and infrastructure.
LNG production from Marine XII is expected to begin in 2023, and when fully operational will provide volumes in excess of 3m tons/year, and over 4.5bcm yearly.