U.S. oil major Chevron has been given more time to drill the A3 appraisal well in the Aphrodite gas field, 160 km south of Limassol, offshore Cyprus.
NewMed Energy, partner in Chevron-operated Block 12 in the Mediterranean Sea, said Thursday that the partners received an amendment to the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), which was signed on November 9, 2022, according to which the date of the obligation of the partners in Block 12 to drill and complete the well has been extended by nine additional months, that is, until August 2023.
The previous PSC, called for the well to be drilled and completed by November 2022.
According to NewMed, until recently known as Delek Drilling, the drilling of the well is expected to begin in the first half of 2023.
The partners in the project, Chevron, Shell, and NewMed, in September approved the $192 million budget for the appraisal drilling and pre-feed work for the Aphrodite reservoir development.
The A3 well will target Oligo-Miocene sand layers, known as “Tamar sands”. The well will be drilled using Stena Drilling’s Stena Forth drillship. Water depth in the area is around 1700 meters.
Aphrodite was discovered by the A-1 well in September 2011. The A-2 appraisal well, drilled in 2013, confirmed approximately 98 BCM of contingent resources with a potential for an additional 26 BCM of prospective resources.
According to information on NewMed's website, the Aphrodite partners and the Government of Cyprus are exploring options to supply natural gas to the domestic market in Cyprus, and to export natural gas by pipeline to other markets, including the Egyptian market, and the global LNG market.
Reuters reported recently that Cypriot authorities expect gas from Aphrodite to be commercially available in 2027, with one of the main delivery scenarios involving piping the gas to LNG infrastructure in Egypt.
