“Extensive strain of gas” discovered off Cypriot coast: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi held a call with re-elected Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Thursday to discuss cooperation “under agreements signed by them or those with Greece,” said a statement from Ittihadiya. Reading between the lines, this is a reaffirmation of the Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) demarcation agreement, which Turkey’s foreign minister had called “illegal” a few days earlier. Turkey’s statement came after reports started emerging last week that the consortium was on the precipice of a major discovery at the Calypso reservoir in Block 6 off the coast in Cyprus.

On that front, Eni and Total discovered an extensive strain of natural gas southwest of Cyprus, Cypriot Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said, according to Reuters. “An extensive column of clean natural gas was discovered in … the Cypriot EEZ.” The geology is similar to that at the Zohr supergiant field.

In other East Med gas disputes, Lebanon signed its first offshore oil and gas exploration and production agreements for two blocks, including a block disputed by neighboring Israel, with Total, Eni and Russia’s Novatek, Reuters reports.