Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil announce the discovery of a large natural gas field in Cyprus

Qatar Petroleum and its partner ExxonMobil have announced a major discovery of natural gas in the Glaucus-1 exploratory well in Sea Region No. 10 located in the Cypriot territorial waters, 180 km southwest of the port city of Limassol.

The discovery was made by the Glucos-1 well, which turned out to be 133 meters of gas-carrying layers. The drilling has reached a depth of 4,200 meters in waters of a depth of 2063 meters.

Based on preliminary analyzes of the well data, the volume of reserves in place can range from 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. These estimates will be further analyzed and audited over the coming months.

Commenting on the success, Qatar's Minister of State for Energy, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Saad Bin Sharida Al Kaabi, said: "This discovery is the second of its kind to be announced this month in Qatar Petroleum's international projects. Achievement is a milestone in Qatar Petroleum's strategy to grow and expand its global reach. "

"This is the biggest discovery so far in Cyprus, and according to some official data, it is one of the biggest discoveries in the world in the last two years," Cypriot Energy Minister Yorgos Lakotripis said.

Cyprus has one gas field, which is estimated to have four trillion cubic feet of gas. It was discovered south of the island in 2011.
"We are very optimistic about the results we have seen in the well," said Tristan Asparay, ExxonMobil's vice president for exploration in Europe, Russia and the Caspian Sea and concessionaire in the region.

"We will spend the next few months analyzing the data we have gathered so that we can better identify the full commercial potential of the supplier and chart the best course for further evaluation," he said.

The Glucos-1 well is the second well being drilled in Exploration Area 10 after the first well, the Dolphin 1, where the gas was not detected in economic quantities, was drilled.

The exploration area is 2572 square kilometers. The exploration is carried out by Exxon Mobil, which holds a 60 percent stake in Sea Area 10, while Qatar Petroleum holds the rest.