SUNDAY MAIL

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ELECTIONS ONLINE

SECOND INAUGURATION

INSIDE

Politicians are learning the value of the Twitter and Facebook generation

A muted start to Barack Obama’s second term as US president

TV and lifestyle supplements to see you through the week

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www.cyprus-mail.com

January 20, 2013

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COFFEESHOP: VETERAN NETWORKERS SEIZE THE LIMELIGHT PAGE 17 INSIDE Cyprus Asil Nadir could buy his way out of his British jail 5

World Canada put ‘wrong’ maple leaf on new C$20 bill 9

Lifestyle Alpha’s rocking brand of Christianity centre

Feature David Bowie: classic shots of the great pop idol 20

Sport Super Silva at the double for Mancini’s men back

Noble drilling delay ‘normal’ Officials remain upbeat though date of second drilling has been pushed back twice By Stefanos Evripidou

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OBLE ENERGY has pushed back the start of appraisal drilling in its Block 12 offshore concession in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), raising questions as to whether it will get the data it needs on the size and quality of hydrocarbon reserves before its current licence expires in October 2013. Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Energy Service director Solon Kassinis yesterday appeared confident that not only would the US company get the ball rolling before its licence runs out this October, the subsequent drilling operations will provide a muchneeded boost to the local economy. The daily barrage of speculation about the level of public debt Cyprus will assume has wiped the smile off many faces on the island, but the one area seen as a silver lining in a gloomy indebted future is the burgeoning hydrocarbons industry. Since negotiations with the troika began for an international bailout, President Demetris Christofias has said on a number of occasions that in the not too distant future Cyprus will be able to pull itself out of economic misery by exploiting the “gift” of its natural resources. In December 2011, after drill-

ing an exploratory borehole, Noble Energy announced that the ‘Aphrodite’ well in its Block 12 concession held an “estimated gross resource range of 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf), with a gross mean of 7 tcf”. However, in recent weeks, commentators have expressed concern at delays in the second ‘appraisal’ well Noble will drill to ascertain the size and quality (and commercial potential) of the Aphrodite discovery, arguing that delays in developing Cyprus’ natural gas industry mean delays in the island’s economic recovery. Plans were afoot to start a second drilling next month, however this was pushed back to April. In recent days, Noble informed the government that the April deadline also will not be met, with no new date set for work to start on the appraisal well. Kassinis yesterday rejected allegations of unnecessary delays, saying: “I assure you Noble is trying as fast as possible to get started.” He argued that Noble and the energy service have already evaluated around 20 tenders announced in relation to auxiliary services needed to get the drilling going. Another five are at the stage of evaluation. “Noble evaluates the tenders under our auspices, because

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SKIERS FLOCK TO THE SLOPES OF TROODOS

A young skier has a skiing lesson on Troodos where recent heavy snow fall has meant good business for the Ski Federation FULL STORY LIVING PAGE 7 (Christos Theodorides)

Algeria siege ends in bloodshed By Lamine Chikhi and Abdelaziz Boumzar THE Algerian army yesterday carried out a final assault on al Qaeda-linked gunmen holed up in a desert gas plant, killing 11 of the Islamists after they took the lives of seven more foreign hostages, a local source and the state news agency said. “It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of

mines,” a local source familiar with the operation told Reuters. The state oil and gas company, Sonatrach, said the militants who attacked the plant on Wednesday and took a large number of hostages had booby-trapped the complex with explosives. The exact death toll among the gunmen and the foreign and Algerian workers at the

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