Cyprus awards hydrocarbon exploration licenses to French Total

(MENAFN) Cypriot Commerce Minister, Neoclis Sylikiotis, announced that his country has awarded hydrocarbon exploration licenses to France's Total, reported Xinhua News. Sylikiotis said that the contracts allowed Total to become the third foreign energy firm to obtain such licenses in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone. The minister noted that now, the French energy firm owns exploration rights in two blocks off the south coast of the island. According to Total's Middle East President for oil exploration and production, Arnaud Breuillac, the company will continue with oil and natural gas drillings. He added that soon, the firm will launch a new drilling to verify and assess the gas reserves it tapped in 2012, which were originally estimated at between 5 and 8 trillion cubic feet. It is worth noting that last month, Italian-South Korean ENI-Kogas consortium inked similar contracts that entitled it to exploration rights in three fields, whereas Texas-based Noble Energy has already tapped large reserves of natural gas.