French firm Total and Italy’s Eni, the key holders of exploration acreage offshore Cyprus both last month saw their respective licenses, which were due to expire this year, extended by a further two years. Neither firm gave details of whether it has committed to drilling any wells by the new 2018 expiry date.

Both firms had previously indicated that they would quit Cyprus (MEES, 10 April 2015), but everything changed with Eni’s August 2015 discovery of the supergiant Zohr field in nearby Egyptian waters. (CONTINUED - 480 WORDS)