Cyprus says consortium fails to find sufficient gas quantities at 2nd drilling site

Cyprus' Energy Ministry says an Italian-South Korean consortium has failed to find natural gas at a second offshore site where it has carried out exploratory drilling.

The ministry said Thursday that a rig owned by the Eni-Kogas consortium drilled to a depth of 5,485 meters (18,000 feet) in an area off the east Mediterranean island's southern coast but didn't discover any "exploitable concentrations of hydrocarbons."

The same consortium said in December that it didn't find any gas at another site. The ministry said the consortium will review procedures in order to help with its future gas search plans.

This result comes on top of an announcement by France's Total in January that its own gas search off Cyprus hadn't turned up any potential fields to warrant drilling.