Greece moves closer to offshore gas drilling after consortium agreement

[InTime News]

Greece precocious plans for its archetypal offshore exploratory state drilling successful astir 40 years connected Wednesday, aft officials and vigor executives signed a drilling agreement.

A consortium of ExxonMobil, Energean and Helleniq Energy signed the statement with Stena Drilling for offshore exploration successful Block 2 successful the northwestern Ionian Sea.

Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou said there are strong indications of earthy state astatine the “Asopos 1” site, where the archetypal exploratory offshore drilling is scheduled for February 2027.

According to estimates presented by Energean CEO Mathios Rigas, the country whitethorn clasp up to 270 cardinal cubic meters (bcm) of earthy gas, compared with Greece’s yearly depletion of 6 to 7 bcm. The planned well will scope depths of up to 4,622 meters and is expected to outgo €60 to 70 million.

“We are aiming for a large find but it will mean thing if the archetypal drilling is not successful,” said Rigas.

If successful, improvement of the tract could necessitate up to €5 cardinal successful further concern and make astir €10 cardinal successful state revenues implicit 20 years, alongside imaginable gains successful vigor security.

Officials from the participating companies and the US Embassy described the task arsenic portion of broader planetary vigor cooperation.