The Cypriot government has rejected the “Aphrodite” consortium’s proposal over an “optimised” Development and Production Plan of the gas field, requesting the consortium to state its consent within six months on specific actions aiming to develop the gas field.

The Cypriot Ministry of Energy announced on April 2 that it has received a proposal by Chevron, the operator of the field, to optimise the agreed Development and Production Plan adding it would review the proposal and notify the consortium, which also include BG Cyprus (Shell) and NewMed Energy.

In a press release to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange yesterday, NewMed Energy said “on 30 April 2024, the operator in the Project received a letter from the Minister of Energy in the Cypriot government, according to which the proposals for approval of an optimal development plan for the reservoir, in lieu of the Original Development Plan, which were presented by the Partners to representatives of the Cypriot government on 28 March 2024, are not acceptable to the Cypriot government.”

NewMed also noted that “in the letter, the Partners were required to promptly confirm in writing their unconditional consent to commence performance of the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) within 6 months from the date of the letter, in accordance with the Original Development Plan, in which case the Partners will be granted certain extensions for compliance with the milestone for performance of the FEED and the milestone for the adoption of a final investment decision.”

“The Partnership intends, together with its partners in the Aphrodite Reservoir, to examine the implications of the letter received from the Cypriot government as aforesaid, and the possible courses of action available to them in relation thereto,” the press release added.

“Inadequate” proposal

Sourced told CNA that Chevron’s proposal was submitted on the basis of a Floating Production Unit (FPU) came under certain conditions and was deemed as not targeted and with no specific timeframes and was hence deemed as inadequate.

In this context, the Minister of Energy George Papanastasiou in his letter dated April 30, pointed out the insufficient nature of the proposal and requested from the operator targeted actions, as defined in the letter. He also requested that the company confirms its agreement on these actions and its commitment for the development of the gas field in a specific timeframe. The consortium was given six months to respond.

Aphrodite gas field was discovered in 2011 and it is estimated to hold a gross mean of 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. US major Chevron acquired Houston-based Noble Energy, the operator of the field, in 2020. In August 2023 the Ministry of Energy rejected a proposal by Chevron to change the initial Development and Production Plan which was drafted by Noble in 2019. The government has given numerous extensions to the consortium with a view to find a common ground on the development of the gas field.

The consortium comprises Chevron (operator) with 35% stake, BG Cyprus (Shell) with 35% and NewMed Energy with 30%.