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A Chinese state-owned oil and gas company is among several firms showing interest in investing in Cyprus' offshore natural gas field, the island's interior minister said Sunday.

Neoklis Sylikiotis didn't elaborate on what kind of investment CNOOC is looking to make. But Politis newspaper said the firm is looking to be a major player in building the infrastructure that would bring the gas to shore and process it for export and to possibly secure quantities of gas to feed China's growing energy demand.

In December, U.S. firm Noble Energy announced the discovery of an estimated 5-8 trillion cubic feet (140-230 billion cubic meters) of gas inside one of 13 blocks that together make up the island's 19,700-square-mile (51,000-square-kilometer) exclusive economic zone off its southern coast.

The Cypriot field sits close to a huge Israeli gas find and the two countries are currently in talks on ways of jointly exploiting the mineral wealth.

And last month, Cyprus launched a second licensing round for more offshore exploratory drilling.

'It's significant that after Noble confirmed its findings in Bloc 12, interest in the other blocs is growing,' Sylikiotis said.

Sylikiotis' remarks came days after Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said an Asian investor is interested in buying around 500 million euro (US$665 million) worth of Cypriot bonds.

The discovery of gas is a boon for eurozone member Cyprus struggling to restore investor confidence as its near-junk credit rating - due to its banks' heavy exposure to Greek debt - has left it largely unable to borrow from international markets.

But it has also rankled with Turkey which doesn't recognize Cyprus as a sovereign state and says it has rights to a large swath of the island's exclusive economic zone.

Henan Hongxing Mining Machinery Co., Ltd is a joint-stock mining machinery manufacturing enterprise integrated in scientific research, production and marketing. It is located at the High & New Technology Industries Development Zone of Zhengzhou,China with an area of 50 thousand m2 which includes 15,000 m2 of standard heavy duty industrial workshop. Equipments are more than 160 pieces, including large and medium sized metal processing, riveting and installing equipments. There are more than 660 workers including 80 administrators with secondary and senior occupational titles and engineering technicians. In order to promote the competitive strength, the advanced technologies have been introduced from America, Germany, Japan and Australia, which established the international advanced production line, first-class modern testing base as well as research centers of sand maker, mill and mine-selecting equipment. Scientific management, advanced processing technology and innovative manufacturing theory make the company become the mining machinery manufacturing and exporting base in China.

Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek speaking south and a breakaway Turkish speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after an short-lived coup by supporters of a union with Greece.

Turkey says a Greek Cypriot mineral deposit search flouts the rights of Turkish Cypriots to gas-generated riches. Tensions were raised last year when Ankara sent a warship-escorted research vessel to look for fuel off the island's southern coast.