The US company Chevron has expressed interest in hydrocarbon exploration in a marine area of 11,000 square kilometers south-southwest of the Peloponnese.
The company has purchased all the data resulting from seismic and other surveys that have been conducted in recent years in southern and western Greece, according to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
Among these is the data from the large-scale seismic survey conducted in 2012 by PGS in the Ionian Sea and the marine area south of Crete on behalf of the Ministry of Energy.
Chevron’s interest is said to have been expressed after evaluating this data and seeing the possibility of exploitable natural gas reserves in the area.
Next steps
The next steps, which are expected to be implemented rapidly, include:
-the submission of the environmental impact study of the explorations by the Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company to the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the announcement of an international tender and
-the issuance of a decision by the Ministry of Environment and Energy accepting the expression of interest and announcing an international tender, with a notice to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union for possible expressions of interest by other oil companies in the same area. Bids must be submitted within ninety days of publication.
At the same time, the processes are underway to take an investment decision regarding the conduct of exploratory drilling in the areas west and southwest of Crete that were granted in 2019 for research to the ExxonMobil and Helleniq Consortium. In addition, four other areas are in the research phase: one in the onshore area of Ioannina and three offshore areas in the Ionian Sea.
Reserve estimates
According to the published estimates of the Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company, “a conservative estimate of the potential and probable reserves of the areas in question, in which, however, exploratory drilling has not yet been carried out, stands, according to preliminary data, close to 24 trillion cubic feet or 680 bcm of natural gas (risked recoverable reserves). The possible confirmation of these deposits exceeds both the present and future domestic demand for natural gas, making our country an exporter by the end of the decade.”
