Significant expectations for Greek hydrocarbons are being created by the developments of last week, both in the 4 new areas under investigation south of Crete and the Peloponnese and on the “plot 2” in the Ionian Sea in a more advanced research stage. The 4 new areas, after the completion of the International Competition announced in June, are being granted to the Chevron / Helleniq Energy consortium, while for “Plot 2” as it was officially known by Energean Chief Mathio Riga, the original estimation for the potential resources of 200 b.

Developments in addition to economic importance (investments, jobs, energy self -sufficiency and a reduction in the cost of imports of hydrocarbons if the exploitation of deposits is possible) are also of great geopolitical importance for our country. As Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted last week as part of a meeting with United States Interior Minister Doug Burgum, Chevron’s interest in research activities in the south of Crete confirms the sovereign rights of the Hellenic Republic.

In addition, domestic hydrocarbons production will bring our country to EU energy security pillars, not only at the level of energy resources (already occurring) but also in power.

The competition for the 4 areas (“Bloc A2”, “South of the Peloponnese”, “South of Crete 1” and “South of Crete 2”) was announced after an interest expressed by Helleniq Energy for the first and Chevron for the other 3. The committee of tenders have already been set up and the training, signing of the contracts and their ratification by the Parliament will be followed.

In the case of “Plot 2” in the Ionian Sea (30 km west of Corfu with the west limit of the Greek-Italian maritime limit) the concession contract was ratified in 2018 and today is the Energean (75%) consortium and Helleniq Upstream (25%).

As announced by Mr. Matthew Rigas, Managing Director of Energean as part of the analysts’ information on the semester results of the group, the initial estimate of potential resources (GAS INITIALLY IN PLACE according to the terminology) ranges from 7 trillion cubic feet or 200 billion cubic meters. However, in order to ascertain whether there is a exploitable deposit and to what extent research drilling is required. Given the costs and the risk of investing for drilling, according to the relevant information, the ENERGEAN – HELLENIQ consortium is in search of a partner that will participate in the project. The depths of water on “Plot 2” ranges from 500 m to 1,500 m, while the existence of a confirmed oil system in Western Greece (western Katakolo) and the Adriatic Sea make this area particularly interesting. It is noted that Energean has also asked Italy the concession of the adjacent maritime area for investigation.

With the addition of 4 new ones, areas granted or provided for hydrocarbon surveys are increased to 9. The other 5 are region 2 (75 % ENERGEAN- 25 % Helleniq), Ionian Bloc (100 % Helleniq), Area 10 (Kyparissiakos Gulf, 100 % Helleniq) % Exxon, 30 % Helleniq). The land region of Ioannina has been returned to the public and for the founding deposit in Katakolo there is pending compared to the marine park to be declared in the Ionian Sea. Production exists in the area of ​​Prinos by Energean.