Cyprus considers extension for Chevron negotiations

Cyprus is considering the possibility of granting a new extension for negotiations with Chevron and is determined to exhaust every opportunity for negotiations until the very last moment, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported on Saturday.

According to cited sources, the company is seeking a four-month extension for the negotiating period for the modification of the Aphrodite offshore gas field development and production plan.

At the same time, the company has also requested a four-month extension of the deadline for starting the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study. The company seeks to have the two four-month-extension requests run concurrently.

CNA reported that the Republic of Cyprus is considering the possibility of accepting an extension, but for a shorter period. The current negotiation period ends on Sunday, November 5, and the government seems willing to exhaust all possibilities for finding a solution, sources told CNA.

On Friday, a meeting was held between the two parties, after which no announcements were made. CNA sources said that Energy Minister George Papanastasiou had another informal meeting on Friday evening with representatives of the company.

The Chevron consortium, along with Shell Plc and Israel’s Newmed Energy LP, had submitted for approval an updated development plan for the Aphrodite field to the government, which provided for the connection of the field to liquefaction infrastructure in Egypt via a subsea pipeline.

The updated plan was rejected by the Cypriot government at the end of August, with the contract providing for 30 days of negotiation to resolve the dispute. The negotiation period had been extended for another 30 days with a deadline of November 5.