ExxonMobil

As expected, ExxonMobil's first exploratory drilling in block 10 has been completed.

According to an official announcement from the Ministry of Energy, exploratory drilling on target Delphyne-1 by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus (Offshore) Limited and Qatar Petroleum International Upstream OPC has been completed.

A malfunction on board the British flagged Stena Ice Max drillship has reportedly caused a delay of 10 days.

The unspecified problem occurred during Christmas time and had led to a temporary suspension of drilling operations. According to Kathimerini the problem has been rectified and an Energy Ministry announcement is expected next week.

A 42-year-old British crew member, who suffered a heart attack on a drillship off Cyprus, had to wait twelve hours before he could be airlifted to hospital due to poor weather conditions.

Cyprus, Greece and Israel have decided to set up a multi-party military force to provide security for natural gas infrastructure, Cypriot state television CyBC reported on Friday.

It said that the multi-party force decision was among unreported issues discussed at a summit of the three countries in Israel on Thursday.

US energy giant ExxonMobil is set to start looking for natural gas reserves off the coast of western Crete and is optimistic of "future discoveries," the company's vice president of Exploration for Europe, Russia and the Caspian has said.

Qatar is planning an economic and diplomatic overture to Greece as part of its new extrovert policy following its economic isolation by other states in the Gulf region.

Washington's support for ExxonMobil's drilling operations in Cyprus's exclusive economic zone was highlighted Thursday by a visit by Kathleen Doherty, the US ambassador in Nicosia, to Block 10, where the Stena IceMAX drillship is stationed.

Cyprus's Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis and Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday visited the Stena Icemax drillship along with US Ambassador to Cyprus Kathleen A. Doherty and ExxonMobil Vice Chairman Tristan Asprey. 

With Turkey upping the ante with regard to drilling operations by US energy giant ExxonMobil in Block 10 of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone, a US State Department official reiterated on Monday that Washington discourages any act or rhetoric that would raise tensions in the region and that it supports Cyprus's right to develop natural resources in its EEZ.

As ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum began exploratory drilling in Block 10 of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday, the US assistant secretary of state responsible for energy expressed Washington's "excitement" over the catalytic role the exploitation of natural energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean will have in the region's development.