Attracting exploration interest following a recent giant gas discovery in the country's offshore area, the Republic of Cyprus has opened its second offshore licensing round in 1Q 2012.

The country is in an exploration hotspot with borders to major hydrocarbon producers Egypt and Israel. Huge gas discoveries have been found in the world-class Levantine basin, in particular Tamar (9 Tcf) and Leviathan (20 Tcf). The Aphrodite well was spudded by Noble Energy in Cyprus Block 12 in September 2011, and in December 2011, the results from the 5,860-m (19,227-ft) deep well were presented: high-quality multiple Miocene sand intervals, 94 m (308 ft) net pay, and a natural gas volume of 7 Tcf.

Cyprus wanted to open its second bid round after the announcement of the first exploration well, and the government officially opened the second licensing round February 11, 2012, having submitted the necessary documentation to Brussels for official translation by the European Commission. The government said the round will be a three-month process during which expressions of interest will be submitted by potential energy companies. The Council of Ministers will grant licenses for Blocks 1-11, and 13. Model production-sharing contracts will be awarded from the Republic of Cyprus for the selected applicants.

A map of the exploration area offshore Cyprus is overlain by the structural map of the seabed. The Aphrodite gas discovery is marked in Block 12. (Image courtesy of PGS)

The exploration area of 51,000 sq km (19,690 sq miles) is part of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone and is divided into 13 exploration blocks. Noble Energy was awarded Block 12 in 2008 after the first licensing round. The company received a three-year exploration license with defined exploration commitments. After three years, 25% of the block was relinquished, and the released acreage was included in Blocks 9 and 11.

On average, the exploration blocks are approximately 4,000 sq km (1,544 sq miles) and span an area from the Herodotus basin in the west to the Levantine basin in the east. Block 1 and the northern parts of Blocks 2 and 3 are closest to the island and cover the Cyprus Arc and its deformation front. Blocks 4, 5, 6, and 10 are situated in the Herodotus basin. Blocks 7 and 8 and the western part of Block 11 cover the Eratosthenes Continental block and the west Eratosthenes basin. Finally, the southern parts of Blocks 2, 3, and 11, together with Blocks 9, 12, and 13, cover the Levantine basin.

PGS is the official data provider and has provided Cyprus with a dense multiclient (MC) seismic data grid. The survey MC2D-CYP2006 was acquired for the first licensing round with a 10-km by 20-km (6-mile by 12-mile) coverage. MC2D-CYP2008 infills the previous survey to provide a seismic data coverage of 5 km by 5 km (3 miles by 3 miles) on average. The most recent seismic survey used GeoStreamer technology to obtain the best possible data quality and, following reprocessing in 2011, the original conventional data grid also has high data quality. Block 3 has the greatest MC seismic data coverage with MC 3-D data coverage in part of the block. Geological interpretation reports based on the PGS MC data including hydrocarbon assessments also are available through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism.

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