New Cyprus president Nicos Christodoulides (MEES, 17 February) announced his cabinet on 27 February. George Papanastasiou replaces the outgoing Natasa Pilides as energy minister. Up until his appointment Mr Papanastasiou was managing director of the under-utilized 545,000m³ VTTV oil products storage terminal at Vasilikos on the south coast of Cyprus, which is owned by Vitol-led VTTI.
Mr Papanastasiou takes over at a crucial juncture for Cyprus’ upstream ambitions, following two new gas discoveries made by Eni and TotalEnergies on their Block 6 acreage last year (MEES, 23 December 2022). US major ExxonMobil is also eying further drilling in its Block 5 and 10 acreage this year following disappointing results from last year’s appraisal well of 2019’s Glaucus discovery on Block 10 (MEES, 10 February). (CONTINUED - 183 WORDS)