NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' energy minister says the east Mediterranean island nation stands to gain more than $9 billion over 18 years from the export of gas from its offshore 'Aphrodite' field.

Georgios Lakkotrypis said Wednesday that a renegotiated contract with the consortium made up of Shell, Texas-Based Noble Energy and Israel's Delek paves the way for exploitation of the field that's estimated to hold 4.1 trillion cubic feet of gas.

He said financial terms were drawn up on the base-case scenario of $70 per barrel of oil in 2022. Government ratification of the contract is expected as soon as the field development plan is agreed.

Lakkotrypis said production is set to start in 2024-25.

The gas will be sent by undersea pipeline to processing plants in Egypt and shipped to European markets.