Cyprus could become a European alternative to Russian gas dependency, which has caused geopolitical turbulence on the European continent.

The Cypriot drilling “Cronos-1” started on Monday in block 6 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by the consortium Eni and Total according to an announcement of the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry of Cyprus.

“The Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry announces, the arrival of the Tungsten Explorer drilling vessel, the Cronos-1 drilling works in Section 6 of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus have started, by the consortium Eni Cyprus Limited and TotalEnergies EP Cyprus B.V. holds a Hydrocarbon Exploration License for this Item.

The drilling works will be monitored on a continuous basis by the staff of the Hydrocarbon Service, the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, ” the announcement of the Cypriot ministry states.

It is recalled that at the end of last March completed the work of the evaluation drilling “Glaucus-2” (GLAUCOS 2) in block 10 of the Cyprus EEZ that had started in December 2021.

The drilling had demonstrated the presence of a gas reservoir with high quality characteristics.

Some 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus is under Turkish occupation since 1974.

Read also: NATO Crisis: Finland and Sweden send delegations to Turkey – GEOPOLITIKI