France’s TotalEnergies and Italy’s Eni have approved the development of the Cronos gas field in Cyprus to supply Europe with liquefied natural gas, with production start-up expected in 2028, TotalEnergies has said.
The 2.8 million metric tons of LNG per year expected from the field will be marketed equally between the two companies.
European countries have shown growing interest in exploiting domestic resources after losing access to Russian oil and gas in the wake of the Ukraine war in 2022 and now as they face import disruptions from the war in Iran.
Cronos is a major natural gas discovery in Block 6 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea, operated as a 50/50 joint venture between operator Eni and TotalEnergies.
Estimated to hold more than 3 trillion cubic feet of gas, the project plans to pipe and process the reserves in Eni’s existing facilities in Egypt for export towards Europe via the Damietta LNG terminal.
