The Council of Ministers is expected issue exploitation licenses for the Aphrodite field, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Sunday.

“Regarding the agreements with Total and Eni, we are currently working on the legal details and they are expected to be brought before the Council of Ministers in the coming days for the relevant decisions,” he said.

As far as the Aphrodite field is concerned he said, “we are in negotiations with the consortium to come up with a jointly acceptable plan for development and production, which must be submitted to the Council of Ministers to issue exploitation licenses for the Aphrodite field, marking the first time that such licenses will be issued for the Cyprus EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)”.

This is the third type of license that is issued to interested companies. The first, a prospecting license allows the geological evaluation of an area, while the second, an exploration license allows for exploratory drilling to take place. If a discovery is made, the licensee then has the right to be granted an exploitation license.

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