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  • Writer's pictureFelix Tsourakis

Greece: New Developments & Opportunities

New Developments & Opportunities


Two different consortia formed by Exxon Mobil, Total and Repsol have jointly bid with Hellenic Petroleum to explore offshore Greece. The first consortium submitted a bid to jointly explore off Crete, whilst the second consortium intends to commence exploration in a block in the Ionian Sea. Greek Energy Minister George Stathakis explained that the bids alone are “a vote of confidence in the prospects of the Greek economy and the country’s role as a stabilising factor in the southeast Mediterranean region.”


A Total-led consortium with Edison and Greece’s oil refining colossus, Hellenic Petroleum, has been awarded Block 2 in the Ionian Sea; Hellenic Petroleum was also awarded the onshore Arta-Preveza and northwestern Peloponnese blocks whilst Energean, Greece’s only oil producer, was awarded the Aitoloakarnania onshore block.


Important developments will soon come from other regions as well, as there is an ongoing Development Project in offshore Katakolo and ongoing seismic surveys in onshore Ioannina, located in Western Greece


Hellenic Petroleum holds an exploration license in the Patraikos Gulf off the Peloponnese peninsula and plans the first test drilling there in 2019. Energean also plans to start drilling in another field off the peninsula in 2019.

New exploration blocks will open in 2018, close to the Grevena region in Northern Greece, a very promising region.


Upstream Developments


Energean Drilling Rig, Balkans Petroleum, Greece

Since the summer of 2015, Energean Force - Energean’ s own drilling rig - has successfully completed the drilling of seven wells in the Prinos field. Prinos 2P reserves have been audited at 17.8 mmbbls of oil and 2.9 Bcf of gas, while 2C contingent resources are 15.6 mmbbls of oil and 4.9 Bcf of gas. Currently, eleven wells are producing and four are injecting sea water.

Prinos’ oil production averaged 3,177 bbls daily in 2016, a 151 per cent increase compared to 2015 production. Continuous investments and development drilling in Prinos, have lead to a continuous production increase to 4.1 kboepd in 2017 from 1.3 kboepd ten years earlier. Cumulative production stands at 111 mmbbls with no signs of stopping.


Key Regional Projects


Encouraged by recent large gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece has been steadily attracting large IOCs’ interest.


Why? Well, because it’s a vastly underexplored area with rich hydrocarbon potential, open to exploration, data acquisition and analysis.


Key fact- Greece is also part of the EastMed Pipeline project, a natural gas pipeline connecting Cyprus to Greece and Italy. This prolific pipeline project will be transporting natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, making it a vital project for regional development.

In addition to that, Greece will be a key part of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which will effectively be transporting gas from Azerbaijan, through other pipelines to Europe. It is expected to be fully up and running by 2020.


The gas moving through these pipelines could come from the fields soon to be explored, along with resources from two natural gas fields off the coast of Israel that Greek explorer and producer Energean Oil & Gas is developing.


Greece possesses an excellent geopolitical location, being a prominent Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan country, making it the ideal node for hydrocarbon networks, and long-term investment.


HHRM - Driving investment in Greece


Greece has launched an ambitious programme to discover more oil and gas, lead by the Hellenic Hydrocarbons Resources Management. It is tasked with finding investors, overseeing licences and monitoring the implementation of exploration and exploitation agreements. It is also in talks with firms for investors’ initiatives.


HHRM is a key factor to the recent resurgence of exploration in Greece, being in talks with all big international companies, and many medium-sized ones, welcoming and examining all players on their validity and potential as partners and operators.


HHRM expects the first new offshore and onshore drillings to begin in two years, with many opportunities being discovered in the meantime.


Mr. Yannis Bassias, Chairman and CEO of HHRM, is joining the Balkans Petroleum Summit to discuss Greece’s promising oil and gas potential and reveal available and future business opportunities.


Want to get involved or learn more? Join Balkans Petroleum Summit , taking place in Bucharest, Romania and discover first-hand how to best enter the Greek Hydrocarbons Market and make the most out of it on 16-17 October 2018.

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