NICOSIA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus's energy plans include eight more drillings in its exclusive economic zone in the next two years, even as Turkey protests that Turkish Cypriots have been left out of the energy planning process, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Tuesday.
The minister did not go into details as to the blocks or the companies which will make the drillings, but said that the targets have been located and drilling will begin before the end of this year or at the beginning of 2020.
"Eight drillings have been scheduled for the next 24 months. Six exploratory and two confirmatory", said the minister, during a presentation of the work of his ministry from March 2018 through April 2019.
The only two pending confirmatory drillings is one by ENI-Total in block 6, where a 6-trillion cubic feet capacity field has been discovered, and one by the ExxonMobil-Qatar Petroleum consortium in block 10, where a similar field was found earlier this year.
Lakkotrypis said that the government is at the final stage of the licensing procedure for block 7, into which extends the natural gas field found in block 6.
He added that the agreement between France's TOTAL and Italy's ENI does not concern only block 7, noting that they have reached a preliminary agreement setting out their cooperation in other blocks.
Lakkotrypis further said that next week a development and production plan for the Aphrodite field in block 12 will be discussed during a workshop, while parallel negotiations will be held for a final agreement for the selling of gas.
Regarding development of the other two gas fields, Lakkotrypis said the government has not decided yet whether to build a liquefaction plant or to pipe the gas to Europe.
Asked about the presence of a Turkish drilling ship within the Cypriot exclusive economic zone 37 nautical miles off the island's western shores, Lakkotrypis said that the government is applying both legal and diplomatic means to counter Turkish actions.
Tensions have flared up in the eastern Mediterranean between Cyprus and Turkey since early this month, after Turkey had sent a drill ship to explore for natural gas in an offshore area close to the Cypriot coast, which Cyprus considers part of its Exclusive Economic Zone.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week that his country's actions are taking place within the Turkish continental shelf and in areas licensed by the so-called Turkish State of Northern Cyprus, a breakaway entity condemned by the United Nations Security Council as illegal.
Cyprus was split along ethnic lines in 1974, when Turkey intervened militarily following a coup by Athens-backed Greek Cypriots. Numerous reunification talks between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots have failed.
