UPDATE 2-Exxon Mobil finds Cyprus's largest gas discovery to date

Exxon Mobil Corp has discovered natural gas off the coast of Cyprus, a find authorities said was the biggest off the Mediterranean island since it started drilling for gas in 2011.

Exxon said it had encountered a gas bearing reservoir at a well southwest of the island, which could potentially represent between 5 and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas.

“This is the biggest find so far in Cyprus, and based on some official data it is one of the biggest finds worldwide in the past two years,” Cypriot Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said.

Cyprus has one gas field, Aphrodite, which contains an estimated 4 trillion cubic feet of gas discovered to the south of the island in 2011.

“We are very encouraged by the results we’ve seen in the well,” said Tristan Aspray, Vice-President of Exxon Exploration for Europe, Russia and the Caspian.

Exxon owns a 60 percent stake in the block, known as Block 10, while Qatar Petroleum holds the rest.

“We will be spending the next several months analysing all data we have gathered so we can better define the full commercial potential of the resource and map out the most appropriate path for a further appraisal,” he told journalists.

Last year Italy’s ENI and France’s Total said they had found a promising prospect of natural gas in a nearby concession, Calypso.

Perched on the maritime edge of two huge gas finds in the Levant Basin, Leviathan off Israel and Zohr off Egypt, Cyprus still relies on heavy and expensive fuel oil for its power stations.

Source: Reuters