Yards in China and the Middle East are competing to deliver a novel floating control unit (FCU) for Eni's Cronos ultra-deep water gas project offshore Cyprus. The gas will be routed into Egyptian infrastructure for onward export to European markets.

Project Overview and Development Plan

Cronos is one of three large gas discoveries in Block 6, holding estimated in-place resources of more than 3 trillion cubic feet. The development plan involves a subsea tie-back of Cronos to Eni's Zohr gas field approximately 100 kilometres away in Egyptian waters. Gas will then be piped to shore for treatment at existing Zohr facilities before being sent to the Eni-operated Damietta LNG plant in Egypt. A final investment decision is expected this year, with development estimated to take between two-and-a-half and three years. Key project activities are targeted for completion by 30 March 2026 to allow the project to progress.

The Floating Control Unit (FCU)

The FCU is a key component of Eni's plan to fast-track production. Chinese yards CIMC Raffles and China Merchants Heavy Industry are competing with Dubai-based Drydocks World for an EPCI contract. The FCU concept was chosen due to the extreme water depth of over 2000 metres, as it offers a cheaper and faster development solution compared to alternatives. Eni has a blueprint from its Congo LNG scheme, where it converted a semi-submersible drilling rig into a control unit, reducing costs and speeding up development. A similar conversion is likely for Cronos, with yards proposing different solutions including semi-submersible and ship-shaped vessels. The FCU is expected to operate in depths of nearly 2300 metres.

Development Phases and Infrastructure

The base-case development for Cronos includes four subsea production wells, trees, flowlines, and a 100-kilometre pipeline to Zohr. The FCU will not be needed for the initial development phase (Phase 1), during which flow and process control will be managed remotely from Zohr via fibre optic connections. The FCU will be introduced in a second phase to optimise flow volumes and recoverable resources, though it is not strictly necessary for basic flow control. First gas from Cronos is expected as early as 2028 or 2029.

Resource Potential and Commercial Context

The Cronos-2 appraisal well demonstrated a production capacity exceeding 150 million cubic feet per day, with plateau production estimated at around 600 MMcfd. Alongside Cronos, the nearby Zeus discovery is estimated to hold about 2.5 Tcf of gas. The development was facilitated by a host government agreement signed between Cyprus and Egypt in February last year, formalising the plan to route Cypriot gas through Egyptian infrastructure for export.