A consortium led by ExxonMobil has found a reservoir of natural gas at a prospect off the island's coast, a Cypriot government spokesperson said on Monday.
Drilling resulted in preliminary indications of 350 metres of a gas-bearing reservoir at a depth of 1.9 kilometres in the Pegasus-1 well, spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
"Further assessment will be required in the coming months to evaluate the results," he said in a statement released after Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides was briefed on the results.
Letymbiotis said it is the second gas discovery made in Block 10 by partners ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, following a discovery at the Glaucus-1 well announced in February 2019. The Glaucus-2 appraisal well, completed in March 2022, confirmed the existence of a high-quality gas-bearing reservoir.
Cyprus has found quantities of natural gas at several locations rimming its south, but has yet to extract or commercialise it.
(Writing by Michele Kambas Editing by Rod Nickel)