Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastayrou attended today’s Defense and Geopolitics Conference organized by capital.gr and Forbes Greece, announcing that the organization responsible for updating the feasibility study for the Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection project will soon be revealed. Specifically, he noted that Greece simultaneously supports the interconnection with Egypt while examining the potential route for connection with Saudi Arabia. All these projects, he stated, form part of the broader trade corridor that would begin in India and end in Europe, crossing the Middle East and Mediterranean.
Papastayrou: “Energy is a sector where transatlantic convergence exists”
Referring to hydrocarbon exploration, he emphasized that Greece is proceeding without fanfare and “grandiose ideas” in investigating the existence of commercially exploitable deposits. He reiterated that contracts for the concession of 4 maritime areas south of Crete and the Peloponnese to the Chevron-Helleniq Energy consortium will be signed next week, while procedures are advancing for exploratory drilling in the Ionian Sea by Exxon-Energean-Helleniq Energy to begin in early 2027.
Regarding the natural gas vertical corridor, he described it as an unprecedented undertaking with significant strategic dimensions for Greece, not only in energy but also in trade and transport. He noted that the European Commission will participate in the vertical corridor meeting in Washington at the end of the month, with the main objective being to address regulatory shortcomings of the project to achieve commercially attractive independence from Russian natural gas. “Energy,” he emphasized, “is a sector where transatlantic convergence exists. This region can become an axis of development and prosperity.”
