Doing Business in Cyprus (Saudi edition)
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DOING BUSINESS C YPRUS<br />
27<br />
SAUDI ARABIA EDITION<br />
Some examples <strong>in</strong>clude the decision <strong>in</strong> 2018 by lead<strong>in</strong>g London ship <strong>in</strong>surer P&I Club<br />
to open a post-Brexit EU subsidiary <strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong>, reaffirm<strong>in</strong>g the island’s position as one<br />
of the top global hubs for shipp<strong>in</strong>g. Another triumph came <strong>in</strong> early 2019, when British<br />
shipp<strong>in</strong>g firm P&O Ferries decided to register its English Channel operat<strong>in</strong>g fleet<br />
under the <strong>Cyprus</strong> flag to take advantage of the benefits and security it provides. Two<br />
of the <strong>in</strong>dustry’s most highly respected privately-owned shipmanagement companies,<br />
Columbia Shipmanagement and Marlow Navigation – both based <strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong> – merged<br />
<strong>in</strong> 2017 to form Columbia Marlow, creat<strong>in</strong>g one of the world’s largest ship and crewmanagement<br />
companies. Another transaction constitut<strong>in</strong>g FDI was the 2018 buyout<br />
of Limassol-based Songa Offshore SE by Transocean Ltd, the world’s largest offshore<br />
drill<strong>in</strong>g contractor for oil and gas wells, <strong>in</strong> a deal worth US$3.4 billion. In addition,<br />
natural gas f<strong>in</strong>ds with<strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong>’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and efforts to exploit<br />
it <strong>in</strong> cooperation with neighbour<strong>in</strong>g countries have expanded opportunities for the<br />
island’s already thriv<strong>in</strong>g shipp<strong>in</strong>g sector.<br />
DEVELOPING AN ENERGY HUB<br />
<strong>Cyprus</strong>’ hydrocarbons discoveries captured the attention of global energy<br />
heavyweights when US company Noble Energy, now acquired by US giant Chevron,<br />
made the first natural gas discovery <strong>in</strong> 2011 with estimated resources of 4.5 trillion cubic<br />
feet (tcf) <strong>in</strong> the Aphrodite field. ENI, Kogas, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Total<br />
have all secured exploration licences and conducted exploratory drill<strong>in</strong>g. ExxonMobil<br />
announced the discovery of an estimated 5 to 8 tcf <strong>in</strong> Block 10 <strong>in</strong> early 2019, while ENI<br />
confirmed a discovery <strong>in</strong> Block 6 – which it operates with Total – of around 2.5 tcf <strong>in</strong><br />
August 2022. Further discoveries could be announced with<strong>in</strong> the next year.<br />
In 2019 <strong>Cyprus</strong> agreed to build a subsea pipel<strong>in</strong>e connect<strong>in</strong>g Aphrodite to Egypt’s<br />
liquefaction plants and concluded a production-shar<strong>in</strong>g deal with Noble Energy (now<br />
Chevron) and its partners over the Aphrodite gas reservoir. The development of<br />
ENI, Kogas, ExxonMobil,<br />
Royal Dutch Shell,<br />
and Total have all<br />
secured exploration<br />
licences and conducted<br />
exploratory drill<strong>in</strong>g
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