2023 Doing Business in Cyprus (UK Edition)
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DOING BUSINESS C YPRUS<br />
30<br />
UNITED KINGDOM EDITION<br />
liability shipp<strong>in</strong>g company law was adopted <strong>in</strong> October 2022, allow<strong>in</strong>g for streaml<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
services via the Deputy Shipp<strong>in</strong>g M<strong>in</strong>istry.<br />
The shipp<strong>in</strong>g cluster has been grow<strong>in</strong>g with new entrants relocat<strong>in</strong>g to <strong>Cyprus</strong>. Some<br />
examples <strong>in</strong>clude the decision <strong>in</strong> 2022 by lead<strong>in</strong>g oil tanker company Frontl<strong>in</strong>e to move<br />
from Bermuda to <strong>Cyprus</strong>, and the move <strong>in</strong> 2018 by lead<strong>in</strong>g London ship <strong>in</strong>surer P&I Club<br />
to open a post-Brexit EU subsidiary <strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong>, reaffirm<strong>in</strong>g the island’s position as one<br />
of the top global hubs for shipp<strong>in</strong>g. Another triumph came <strong>in</strong> early 2019, when British<br />
shipp<strong>in</strong>g firm P&O Ferries decided to register its English Channel operat<strong>in</strong>g fleet<br />
under the <strong>Cyprus</strong> flag to take advantage of the benefits and security it provides. When<br />
it comes to shipmanagement, all the large ship managers have offices <strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong>. Two<br />
of the <strong>in</strong>dustry’s most highly respected privately-owned shipmanagement companies,<br />
Columbia Shipmanagement and Marlow Navigation – both based <strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong> – merged<br />
<strong>in</strong> 2017 to form Columbia Marlow, creat<strong>in</strong>g one of the world’s largest ship and crewmanagement<br />
companies. Another FDI transaction was the 2018 buyout of Limassolbased<br />
Songa Offshore SE by Transocean Ltd, the world’s largest offshore drill<strong>in</strong>g<br />
contractor for oil and gas wells, <strong>in</strong> a deal worth US$3.4 billion. In addition, natural<br />
gas f<strong>in</strong>ds with<strong>in</strong> <strong>Cyprus</strong>’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and efforts to exploit it <strong>in</strong><br />
cooperation with neighbour<strong>in</strong>g countries have expanded opportunities for the island’s<br />
already thriv<strong>in</strong>g shipp<strong>in</strong>g sector.<br />
NEW ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES<br />
C<br />
yprus’ hydrocarbons discoveries captured the attention of global energy<br />
heavyweights when US company Noble Energy, now acquired by US giant Chevron,<br />
made the first natural gas discovery <strong>in</strong> 2011 with estimated resources of 4.5 trillion<br />
cubic feet (tcf) <strong>in</strong> the offshore Aphrodite field <strong>in</strong> Block 12. Chevron owns the licence to<br />
Aphrodite <strong>in</strong> consortium with Shell and NewMed, while ExxonMobil and Qatar Energy<br />
hold licences <strong>in</strong> Blocks 5 and 10.
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