Cyprus rejects Chevron’s development plan for Aphrodite offshore natural gas field

(Bloomberg) – Cyprus turned down a plan submitted by a Chevron Corp.-led consortium to develop the country’s Aphrodite natural gas field, Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou said.

The involved parties can now “enter into discussions to reach an agreement within a period of 30 days,” Papanastasiou told Bloomberg News, without elaborating on why the plan was rejected. The period for a new round of negotiations started Friday.

Chevron, along with Shell Plc and Israel’s Newmed Energy LP, have drilling rights in the Aphrodite offshore natural gas field. The partners in the Aphrodite reservoir submitted an updated plan for the Cypriot government’s approval that would connect the Aphrodite reservoir to an existing processing facility in Egypt via a subsea pipeline, NewMed Energy said in May.

According to Chevron, the updated plan is expected to reduce development costs and bring forward the start of production.

Aphrodite, first discovered in 2011, is estimated to hold 4.4 Tcf (125 Bcm) of still untapped natural gas and lies near the Leviathan field off the coast of Israel that is jointly operated by Chevron and NewMed.