Players' warm response to Cyprus licence round

By Nassir Shirkhani London

 17 May 2012 22:59 GMT

Supermajors are staying away from the latest Cyprus licensing round involving 12 offshore blocks, reflecting Turkey’s threats to boycott companies investing in the divided Mediterranean island.

However, the round still ­received a warm response, with 15 companies and consortia applying for nine of the blocks available.

The leading contenders are ­European majors France’s Total and Italy’s Eni, while other high-profile bidders are Malaysian state oil company Petronas, US-based Marathon, privately owned, Switzerland-based Vitol, Italy’s Edison, London-listed Premier Oil and Australia’s Woodside Energy.

BP, Shell and ExxonMobil, all of whom have assets and interests in Turkey, shunned the offering after Ankara threatened measures against companies participating in the Cypriot round.

Final awards are likely to be made in early 2013 after…

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