JERUSALEM, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The partners in the

offshore Aphrodite natural gas field have submitted a plan to

the Cypriot government to develop the project at a cost of about

$4 billion, Israel's NewMed Energy said.

NewMed said that together with partners Chevron ( CVX ) and

Shell they updated an earlier development and

production plan according to instructions from the government.

Chevron ( CVX ) confirmed on Monday that the plan had been submitted

the previous day.

"According to the updated plan, the production and

processing of natural gas from the reservoir will be carried out

through the construction of an independent floating production

facility to be positioned above the Aphrodite reservoir," the

company said.

It will have an estimated maximum production capacity of

about 800 million cubic feet per day, initially through 4

production wells. The natural gas will be exported via a

pipeline to the Egyptian transmission system, it said.

Aphrodite holds an estimated at 3.6 trillion cubic feet of

gas. It is located in the area of Block 12, around 170 km

offshore Limassol, Cyprus.

There have been protracted talks on the future development

of the Aphrodite field south-east of Cyprus since Chevron ( CVX )

attempted to introduce changes to a 2019 field development plan.

That plan had been agreed between Cyprus and licence-holder

Noble, an independent energy operator Chevron ( CVX ) acquired in 2020.

"We believe it is important that Aphrodite is expeditiously

developed for the benefit of the Republic of Cyprus, the Eastern

Mediterranean region, and European and other international

markets," Chevron ( CVX ) said in a statement.