Cyprus has received expressions of interest from Statoil, ExxonMobil, Eni, Qatar Petroleum, Cairn Energy and Total for offshore blocks offered in Cyprus’ third licensing round, the energy ministry said on Wednesday.

The country’s third offshore licensing round for offshore exploration in blocks 6, 8 and 10 in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus was launched in March this year and the deadline for the submission of applications expired on Friday, July 22, 2016.

The ministry received six applications in total, by eight companies and for all three available blocks.

The names of the interested companies/consortia were released on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, after the President of the Republic and the members of the Council of Ministers were officially briefed during a scheduled meeting of the Council.

According to the energy ministry, Eni and Total applied for block 6 with Eni as the operator. Further, Cairn Energy’s unit Capricorn Oil applied together with Israel’s Avner Oil and Delek Drilling for block 8 with Cairn as the operator. Italian oil company Eni also applied for block 8 on its own.

Finally, two consortia and one company applied for block 10, the first one being a consortium between Eni and Total and the second one between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum. In addition, Statoil Upsilon Netherlands applied on its own.

Under the provisions of the relevant legislation, the ministry said that the six applications submitted will be evaluated by the competent Advisory Committee, which will then draft its opinion in a preparatory report. On the basis of the report and the recommendation of the Minister of Energy, the Council of Ministers will appoint the team that will negotiate, with the companies selected, the final terms of the Exploration and Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs).

The energy ministry noted that the final decision for the granting of exploration licenses is at the discretion of the Council of Ministers.