The importance of hydrocarbon exploration was emphasized by Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastaurou, speaking today at a discussion during the Economist conference titled “Investing in change: Crete in transition” held in Chania, with support from the Region of Crete and the Regional Development Fund of Crete. “We have the two largest private oil companies in the world, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, operating in our country. Particularly south of Crete and in the Ionian Sea. I believe this represents a very significant vote of confidence for the country and the government,” he highlighted. He also noted that the country’s activity in the hydrocarbon sector did not begin in 2024 with the election of Trump. “Greece has systematically invested in natural gas since 2019, in infrastructure, in FSRU, in compression stations. And from 2022 to 2024, long before President Trump was elected, during the Biden administration period, Greece was advancing related programs with two-dimensional and three-dimensional data. So we had gathered the information and necessary infrastructure so that these two major companies and others could show interest in our country,” the minister emphasized.
Papastaurou at Economist and powergame.gr conference
Regarding the research timeline, he reiterated that the consortium of Energean, Helleniq Energy and Exxon Mobil will conduct the first test drilling in 50 years in Greece, in the Northern Ionian Sea, in February 2027. “So, after 50 years we are trying to assess how commercially viable the Ionian Sea is. At the same time, south of Crete we begin seismic surveys at the end of the year,” he added. “It’s clear that both Chevron and Exxon Mobil have expressed interest in the Ionian Sea. Obviously there’s something interesting there. This, of course, doesn’t mean anyone should be overly optimistic, because this is a sector where you have to try very hard. Provided that the exploratory drilling in the Ionian Sea is positive, something we’ll know in less than a year, then production will begin in the early years of the next decade. Immediately, the moment we learn there’s a positive result from the exploratory drilling, our entire hydrocarbon industry portfolio will rise to the next level,” Minister Papastaurou concluded.
