Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is set to begin drilling for natural gas off the coast of Cyprus in January 2025, the company announced Thursday.
John Ardill, ExxonMobil’s Vice President for Global Exploration, revealed the company has spent the past two years gathering detailed three-dimensional seismic data. “We’ve identified several large prospects, and the next step is to bring in a drilling rig to test them,” Ardill said during a conference in Nicosia. “We plan to start drilling our first well in mid-January, and we’re very excited about it.”
In July, the China-based CPP-Metron Consortium pulled out of its agreement with the Cypriot government to build the island’s first natural gas import terminal, citing non-payment issues. The consortium claimed that despite assurances made in a March meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides, the government had not honored its financial commitments.
“No contractor can work indefinitely on credit,” the consortium said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press. “This was not the agreement we signed.”
However, a source familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that both parties mutually agreed to terminate the contract. The source indicated that the consortium was facing a financial crisis, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The consortium’s parent company struggled to cover the funding gap, leading to the departure of two key subcontractors and a halt in work. According to the source, the parent company failed to provide additional financial support to resolve the issue.
The natural gas terminal, estimated at 289 million euros (around $319 million), was supposed to be Cyprus’ largest energy project. Construction began in July 2020, with an expected completion date of 2022. The European Union had awarded a grant of 101 million euros (about $110 million) to support the project, which the Cypriot government had hoped would reduce power generation costs by 15% to 25% and lower the country’s carbon emissions by 30%.
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