The conducting of exploratory drilling during the coming summer in the Ioannina plot managed by Energean is the most mature project among those that include the Greek up stream that comes to the fore with increased operational capacity. There is also an even more mature one, the block in Katakolo with the same operator, for which the approval of the environmental licenses by the Ministry of the Interior has been pending for the last three years!

The trigger for the new round of seismic surveys west and south-west of Crete was given by the Prime Minister himself the day before yesterday in his television interview. Yesterday the plan was confirmed with the release of NAVTEX for the commencement of seismic surveys by the Norwegian PGS vessel Sanco Swift deployed by Exxon Mobil. According to the NAVTEX as of yesterday, November 8, areas in the Ionian Sea, the Western Sea and west and east of Crete will be blocked, in order for the Sanco Swift ship that started to lay a 12-kilometer cable to deploy all the equipment required for the seismic surveys.

The plan drawn up calls for the acquisition of 11,000 kilometers of 3D data from the 6,500 kilometers originally planned last spring, which could speed up the exploratory drilling timeline set for 2025. It is estimated that the US fossil fuel company will get its hands on all the data of the surveys carried out by the Norwegian PGS early in the new year.

“In an attempt to give an idea of ​​what the prize is in case of success, I would venture to say that we are talking about world-class potential deposits, on a par with those found in the Eastern Mediterranean. We are talking about economies of scale of several billions. The numbers are very large and have elements of transformation of the economy, if we think about it, because the goals and the potential production exceed the national needs”, explains to protothema.gr Aris Stefatos, managing director of the Hellenic Management Company of Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources which runs the project of exploiting the deposits.

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Practically, according to the analyses, this means that, if the field in the southwest of Greece is fully exploited, it can bring similar results to Zor in Egypt or to “Leviathan” in Israel, taking into account the relative proportions.

“Now we live in different times, the pressure of time is recognized by everyone and the investors themselves understand that there is no time to waste. I wouldn’t make a prediction, but I will say that the Italian ENI, with the performance it had in the discovery of ZOR in Egypt, managed to start production from the drilling that discovered the deposit within just 2.5 years. And for us it is a corresponding challenge to achieve a similar record”, emphasizes Mr. Stefatos.

The goal that has been set is for the first exploratory drilling, if all goes well, to be done towards the end of 2025, three years from now. Given that ExxonMobil is moving independently and with a willingness to seriously invest in the region, in collaboration with Helleniq Energy, the government considers that this project has serious guarantees of success. Beyond that, based on current market data, the full exploitation of the field could be done by the end of 2028 to 2029. And for some of them the goal may seem a bit far, it is inevitably, but it is a long process, which is moving at quite a fast pace now.