Cyprus has rejected development plan submitted by a Chevron-led consortium for the Aphrodite gas field located in Block 12 of the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus, reported Bloomberg News citing the country’s Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou.

The Aphrodite field, which was discovered in 2011, is located 160km south of Limassol and 30km northwest of the Leviathan field.

Without disclosing the reason for turning down the plan, Papanastasiou told the news agency that the project parties can now “enter into discussions to reach an agreement within a period of 30 days”, effective from 25 August 2023.

Chevron holds 35% stake in the field while other partners include Shell (35%) and Israel's NewMed Energy (30%).

As per the estimates, the offshore field contains 124 billion m³ of gas.

In May 2023, the partners submitted the updated development plan for the Aphrodite field to the Cypriot government.

The plan involved construction of a subsea gas transport pipeline and connecting the Aphrodite reservoir to existing offshore and onshore infrastructure in Egypt through a subsea pipeline.

At that time, NewMed said in a press statement: “According to a current estimate of the Operator, as was delivered to the Partnership and to the Cypriot government, and before completion of technical-economic feasibility tests, including performance of FEED, the Updated Development and Production Plan may reduce the development costs compared with the Approved  Development and Production Plan, and bring forward commencement of production of the natural gas from the Reservoir.”

As per the initial plan, the field development involved the construction of a floating independent production facility in the Aphrodite reservoir, reported The Times of Israel earlier.