Cyprus rejected Chevron Corp’s CVX.N plan to develop the island nation’s offshore Aphrodite natural gas field, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing Energy Minister Giorgos Papanastasiou.

Papanastasiou told Bloomberg that the concerned parties are now able to “initiate talks with the aim of reaching an agreement within a 30-day time-frame.” The new negotiation period commenced on Friday.

The plan, which was submitted by a Chevron-led consortium consisting of Shell SHEL.L and Israel’s NewMed Energy NWMDp.TA in May, aimed to connect the gas field to an existing processing and production facility in Egypt via a subsea pipeline.

Aphrodite, discovered more than a decade ago about 170 km (105 miles) from the city of Limassol, holds an estimated 124 billion cubic metres of gas.

Chevron, Shell and NewMed Energy did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Arshreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)