Greece has
signed a lease agreement with the joint venture Total-Edison-Hellenic Petroleum
for the Block 2 at the Ionian Sea, offshore Greece.
At a packed
event at the library of the Niarxos Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens on
October 31, Greece’s Environment and Energy Minister George Stathakis, Total’s
Vice President of Caspian and Southern Europe Bernard Clement, Edison’s
Vice-President of Exploration and Production Maurizio Coratella, and Hellenic
Petroleum’s (ELPE) deputy CEO Andreas Siamisis signed the contract.
Clement
told New Europe on the sidelines of the signing ceremony that if new reserves
are discovered in the East Mediterranean, it “can only help energy security”.
Asked if
was optimistic about East Med becoming a new energy source for Europe, Total’s
Vice President reminded that “exploration is a very risky business so there
were some interesting discoveries in the recent past, in Egypt in particular,
so we hope that there is good potential here”.
France’s
Total has also started exploration work in Block 11 offshore Cyprus, along with
partner Italy’s ENI. “Exploration is a very technical activity so we try to
identify areas where there is good potential and then to develop our technology
the best we can,” Clement said. “Ninety-nine percent of the consideration is
that – technical. There is very little about politics when you do exploration,”
he said, asked about Turkey’s objections to the drilling offshore Cyprus.
Asked if
plans to transport hydrocarbons from the East Med to Europe via pipeline or
liquefied natural gas (LNG) are viable, Clement said, “First we have to
discover something and then to understand how much can be produced in which can
we would elaborate about marketing of the quantities whether locally or to
export so all options are open. It’s way too early to make plans on that”.
Clement,
who is Total’s Vice President of Caspian and Southern Europe, reminded that the
energy-rich Caspian region has been explored and the Southern Gas corridor will
transport “reserves which have been discovered many years ago and it’s now time
to develop”. In Mediterranean “there were only recently new successes, which is
pushing for more exploration,” Clement told New Europe. “We’ll see in the years
to come whether this work has been successful or not.”
Greece’s
Energy Minister said in his speech at the signing ceremony that “the
southeastern Mediterranean is at the focus of all international investors and
companies after the fact that major energy reserves have been found in this
area”. Greece is trying to build the necessary infrastructure in order to
become a regional energy hub, Stathakis said. “The lease agreement that we are
signing today will be a major step towards this direction,” he concluded.
Also
present at the event, France’s Ambassador to Greece Christophe Chantepy said
the agreement “is extremely important” for Total allowing the French company
and its Greek and Italian partners “to initiate the exploration works in Block
2 as soon as the Parliament ratifies this agreement”.
For his
part, Italy’s Ambassador to Greece Efisio Luigi Marras said neighbouring Italy
“is full supportive and encourages Greece in speeding up this process”. “Greece
is contributing, progressively consolidating its role as an energy hub to
provide southern Europe with infrastructures necessary for a balanced energy
market in Europe. I mean the whole of Europe. TAP (the Trans Adriatic
Pipeline), the privatisation process which is ongoing, the new corridors, the
support to renewables, smart grids, they all belong to the same strategy and I
hope they will soon provide their benefits,” he said.
The Italian
ambassador said southern Europe needs “stability and security of supply, fair
and competitive prices and environmental sustainability”.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/frances-total-leads-hydrocarbon-exploration-offshore-greece/