Eni Signs Cronos Contracts Worth Up to 1.8 Billion Dollars to Send Cypriot Gas Through Egypt

By The Edge Research Team

Eni signed the main engineering, procurement, construction and drilling contracts for Cyprus’s Cronos gas project on 26 October, and the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus put their value at up to 1.8 billion dollars. Eni said the gas will be sent to Egypt, processed through existing facilities including the Zohr infrastructure, and liquefied at the Damietta LNG plant for export to international markets, primarily Europe. In Egypt’s own East Mediterranean waters, an ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic survey is scheduled to begin on 30 October.

Cronos Moves Into Execution Through Egyptian Plants

The contracts start the project’s execution phase. They cover a floating control unit, transport and installation, offshore sealines, the subsea production system, flexible lines, umbilicals, an onshore pipeline and drilling rig services. The launch took place in Nicosia before President Nikos Christodoulides and Michael Damianos, Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry. In a written statement the same day, the President spoke of the first commercial use of Cypriot natural gas.

Cronos sits in Block 6 offshore Cyprus. Eni operates the block with a 50 percent interest alongside TotalEnergies. Eni estimates the field at more than 3 trillion cubic feet of gas initially in place. It is designed for a plateau of up to 500 million standard cubic feet a day, with start-up expected in the first half of 2028. The development uses existing Egyptian gas and LNG infrastructure.

The investment decision of 28 July and the route through Zohr and Damietta were set out earlier. The contract award is the new step: it turns a plan into construction orders, 90 days after the decision, on our count.

On 21 October, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said the Damietta liquefaction plant is ready to receive Cronos gas once the field is developed and to re-export it through Egypt, after Damianos toured the site during the Mediterranean Offshore Conference (MOC 2026) in Alexandria. The ministry put Damietta’s capacity at an estimated 6 million tonnes of LNG a year and said the plant shipped its first cargo in 2005. The same day, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources met Julien Pouget, a senior vice president at TotalEnergies, on speeding up the link. The ministry said the project strengthens Egypt’s role as a regional centre for gas trading.

Cronos: The Route Through Egypt

Contract value as stated by the Cypriot Presidency; route, plateau and timing as stated by the operator; Damietta readiness as stated by the Egyptian ministry on 21 October 2026.

Cronos Output and Timing

Annualised, a plateau of up to 500 million standard cubic feet a day equals up to 182.5 billion standard cubic feet a year, on our calculation.

Timing is the other measure. Start-up in the first half of 2028 falls between 14 and 20 months after the contract signing, on our count. For Damietta, a 2028 start would bring Cypriot feed gas 23 years after the plant’s first cargo, on our count.

Cronos Output and Timing, on Our Calculation

Inputs as published on 26 October 2026. The plateau is a ceiling (“up to”), so the annual figure is a ceiling too. Day and month counts are ours.

Egypt’s East Mediterranean Survey Is Scheduled to Begin on 30 October

On 26 October, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources reviewed preparations on the survey vessel Commander at Port Said ahead of the scheduled start on 30 October. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) runs the project with an alliance of SLB and Viridien. Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources described it as one of the largest marine seismic projects of its kind in the region. Representatives of Eni and BP joined the tour.

Work is to begin in the Denise area off Port Said and at Ras El Bar, over an initial area the ministry put at an estimated 300 square kilometres. The ministry said the results will be integrated with surveys in other areas, including the Nile Delta. The wider programme was set out earlier: on 18 October the ministry gave a first phase of an estimated 18,000 square kilometres within a programme of up to 95,000. The scheduled 30 October start falls 12 days after that announcement, on our count, inside the two weeks the ministry gave then. The opening block is 1.7 percent of the first phase and 0.3 percent of the full programme, on our calculation.

The ministry pointed to the Gulf of Suez, where it said OBN data lifted drilling success rates from 26 percent to 80 percent. On those figures, the new rate is more than 3 times the old one, on our calculation. Viridien’s chief executive said the company has carried out an estimated 80 percent of OBN work worldwide, including projects in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Egypt’s East Mediterranean OBN Survey

Figures as announced by the Egyptian ministry; areas it gives as approximate are shown as estimates.

Why it matters: Cronos gives Egypt’s existing processing and liquefaction plants a new source of feed gas from a neighbour, with Europe as the main market. On our reading, this is what the ministry means by Egypt as a regional centre for gas trading. The survey works on supply at home. In the Gulf of Suez, the ministry says, OBN data lifted drilling success rates.

Outlook: Survey work at Denise and Ras El Bar is scheduled to begin on 30 October. The first stage is due to finish by the end of 2026. On Cronos, the next markers are offshore installation and drilling under the new contracts, ahead of start-up in the first half of 2028. A second Cypriot link is in view: the ministry named the Aphrodite field alongside Cronos among the projects to connect with Egyptian infrastructure.

Sources: Eni, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt, Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus, The Edge.

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