The President of the Republic Mr Nicos Anastasiades
received today, at the Presidential Palace, the Senior Vice President of
Halliburton for Europe and Africa Mr Mark Richard, who was accompanied by the
Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr Yiorgos Lakkotrypis.
After the meeting, the Minister told the press that “it
is with great pleasure that we receive here such an important company to be
active in supporting services with regard to the hydrocarbon explorations within
Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone. The presence of such a company constitutes a
vote of confidence for Cyprus and the prospects of the Cypriot economy.”
He also pointed out that the talks with the company
began many months ago with the involvement of the President of the Republic
himself, and added that “today we had a happy conclusion and we move forward
with the planning of the company for its establishment here in Cyprus.”
On his part, Mr Richard said that “it is a pleasure to
be here in Cyprus for the start of our operations to support our customers and
the country of Cyprus in the ongoing efforts to hopefully produce oil and gas in
the Mediterranean.
I thank the government for the tremendous support and
hospitality they have in helping us to get started here in the country.
Hopefully, this is the start of many, many good years to come.”
Asked where the company will be based, he said it will
be based in Larnaca.
Replying to a question on how many people will be employed in Cyprus
by the company, Mr. Richard said that “that depends on how much work we actually
win from competitive tenders with our customers, but it will be considerable at
one point in time.”
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