Cyprus will reconsider production sharing contract (PSC) terms for its late-2011 4.2tcf Aphrodite gas discovery in a bid to spur long-stalled development. A committee is to renegotiate terms with operator Noble Energy of the US (35%) and partners Shell (35%) and Israel’s Delek (30%). Current contractual terms link royalty payments to oil prices; Noble has lobbied for gas linkage in line with Cyprus’ more recent PSCs.
Noble plans development via a semi-submersible platform with gas piped to Egypt (MEES, 2 March). “The best option is to try and find a mutually acceptable solution with the consortium so that the Aphrodite reserve is developed as soon as possible,” Cypriot energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on 21 August. Nicosia hopes to have gas from Aphrodite flowing to one of Egypt’s two idle LNG liquefaction plants by 2022. (CONTINUED - 234 WORDS)