A consortium led by ExxonMobil has found a reservoir of natural gas at a prospect off the island's coast, a Cypriot government spokesperson said on Monday.
Drilling resulted in preliminary indications of 350 metres of a gas-bearing reservoir at a depth of 1.9 kilometres (1.2 miles) in the Pegasus-1 well, spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
"Further assessment will be required in the coming months to evaluate the results," he said in a statement released after Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides was briefed on the results.
Letymbiotis said it is the second gas discovery made in Block 10 by partners ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, following a discovery at the Glaucus-1 well announced in February 2019. The Glaucus-2 appraisal well, completed in March 2022, confirmed the existence of a high-quality gas-bearing reservoir.
Cyprus has found quantities of natural gas at several locations rimming its south, but has yet to extract or commercialise it.
(Reuters)