Do it like Cyprus: Auction for the oil fields of western Greece

One cannot exactly say that Greece got jealous of our Cypriot brothers’ glory, as this specific development has been prepared for months now by environment minister Yannis Maniatis and his colleagues. However, only a few days after the Cypriot announcements about deposits of natural gas detected in field No 12, the..
government is launching competitions for carrying out drilling in identified deposits in western Greece.

These are areas in Ioannina, the Patras Gulf and Katakolo, where deposits are estimated to yield about 15 to 20 billion dollars’ worth of state revenue over the next 20 to 25 years, with prices from 80 to 100 dollars per barrel.

Based on data from surveys of earlier years, the estimated reserves at the Patras Gulf are 200 million barrels, in Ioannina 50 to 80 million barrels, and from 3 to 8 million barrels in Katakolo.

It is noted that recent seismic surveys in the Gulf of Patras have shown interesting geological structures that could possibly carry oil. In 2001, Triton did not proceed with drilling in the most promising structure due to a different business choice, as stated in the relevant documents of the environment ministry. Drilling in the region, however, is very difficult.

Regarding Epirus, it will require a costly in-depth investigation of 4 kilometers to identify potential oil-related geological targets. This infrastructure was also not drilled in 2002 by Enterprise Oil for technical reasons, as stated in the recommendation of the ministry.

As for Katakolo, it is estimated that the deposit, which was identified in 1982, should be the most economically and technically advantageous for utilization.

It is worth noting that a call to conduct seismic surveys which will highlight potential opportunities for the utilization of deposits in areas south of Crete and the Ionian Sea, is underway and ends on March 2.

defencegreece.com/