A major new gas discovery in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus has been announced by the Government of Cyprus, confirming the energy potential of Block 10.

According to Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letibiotis, this development was made known to the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, during a teleconference with ExxonMobil Vice President John Ardill, in the presence of Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou and ExxonMobil Cyprus General Manager Varnavas Theodosiou.

The discovery was made at the Pegasus-1 well, within Block 10, by the joint venture of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus (Offshore) Limited (as operator) and QatarEnergy International E&P LLC.

The well, drilled by the floating drilling rig “Valaris DS-9”, is located approximately 190 kilometres southwest of Cyprus, in a water depth of 1,921 metres. According to the preliminary data, a column of pure natural gas of 350 meters was identified, which is highly encouraging.

It was clarified that further technical analysis of the data will follow in the coming months to fully evaluate the reservoir and its potential.

This is the second gas discovery in Block 10 by the same consortium, following that of the “Glaucus-1” well announced in February 2019. The appraisal well “Glaucus-2”, completed in March 2022, had already confirmed the existence of a reservoir with high-quality natural gas.