Eight to nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas may be available in the Pegasus and Glafkos fields in the Cypriot EEZ, according to an update provided by ExxonMobil to the President of the Cypriot Republic, government spokesman K. Letibiotis said.

During the meeting, the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said that the Cypriot government considers ExxonMobil’s presence in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone very important, noting that “our cooperation is excellent and always based on sincerity. I look forward to our discussions today, particularly on the assessment of the results for ‘Pegasus’, but also on Block 10, as well as on some other issues on the agenda.”

For his part, Mr Ardill said he had very good news to give to the President, stressing that progress had been made, while noting that exploration at ‘Pegasus’ had been a success.

In a statement to the media, following the meeting between Christodoulides and the Vice President of ExxonMobil, in New York, Letibiotis said that “it was a very important meeting, during which ExxonMobil’s Vice President John Ardill briefed the President of the Republic on the initial findings of the latest drilling in ‘Pegasus’. According to the preliminary data before them, combined with ‘Glaucus’, the amount of gas, the vice president said, could amount to 8 to 9 trillion cubic feet. This is very positive news, very positive signals from ExxonMobil.”

Mr. Letibiotis said that the President of the Republic of Cyprus conveyed to Mr. Ardill, on the one hand, his satisfaction for the cooperation with the company so far and for its activity in the Cypriot EEZ, and on the other hand, the message from the Cypriot government to speed up the extraction as soon as possible, to exploit the natural wealth of the Cypriot EEZ, with the primary objective, of course, the positive impact on energy costs for Cypriot consumers.

“The news is positive, we remain committed to the implementation of the energy plan and the companies operating in the Cypriot EEZ – ExxonMobil is one of the first of them – are global giants whose presence is also a vote of confidence in the Cypriot EEZ,” he said.

Asked whether the company has informed how it will move to exploit these quantities, Letiviotis said that “of course, there was a very specific discussion. In the immediate future, the next, very specific actions are expected from the company’s side, with timetables, which will be set in terms of implementing the necessary actions so that the gas can be exploited. It is one of the objectives that have been set.”