Natural gas: Why Exxon is intensifying research in Crete

The intensification of research south and southwest of Crete by ExxonMobil strengthens expectations for the existence of a large natural gas field

Chrysa Liangou

Last Tuesday, the Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas appeared optimistic in relation to ExxonMobil's investigations in the area of Crete. He spoke of high expectations from the geological indications for the existence of a field that can cover for 10 years the gap left in Europe by Russian natural gas. This has been calculated on an annual basis by the International Energy Organization and the Commission at 30 billion cubic meters. The geological indications from the seismic surveys carried out in 2012 by the research vessel of PGS on behalf of EDEFEP (Hellenic Hydrocarbon Company) show increased possibilities for the existence of a deposit of 9 trillion. cubic feet or otherwise 280 billion sq.m. gas. This potential size is equivalent to twice the size of the Cypriot field “Aphrodite” or the second largest Israeli field “Tamar”.

The interest that the American company ExxonMobil has shown in the two regions west and southwest of Crete since 2017 and its more active participation after the withdrawal of France's Total, according to people familiar with how oil companies operate internationally, reinforces expectations for the existence of a large natural gas field.

As they convey to “K”, ExxonMobil does not invest in unexplored areas, such as Crete, if it does not have serious indications of deposits of this size, i.e. 280 billion square meters. gas. In fact, the executives who are in charge of the Greek project have expertise in research in unexplored areas and experience from drilling in more than five areas of this category around the world, which lends greater prestige to their assessments. The group of these executives visited Athens last Tuesday and had a meeting with the Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas, whom they informed about the research program in Crete. The special seismographic vessel “Sanco Swift” has collected two-dimensional seismic data on the two plots of Crete, which capture the geological structures on the seabed every 40 kilometers. In this period, it continues to collect seismic at a higher density, every 2.5 kilometers, in order to have a better impression without having to proceed to 3D data and in this way accelerate the research program and the next phase of the decision and execution of research drilling.

The official timetable set by EDEFEP places the decision for the first exploratory drilling in 2025-2026, the development of the field in 2027 and the start of production, if everything goes smoothly and the investigations are crowned with success, in 2029. The company however it will aim to move quickly to proceed with the first exploratory drilling in 2025 and production of the field in 2027 or earlier. The goal of EDEYEP and the Greek government is to limit the total time for the evaluation of the data, which is completed at the end of February, for the preparation and execution of the drilling to 2 to 2.5 years, i.e. half of the corresponding time needed for the corresponding process in Cyprus. 2.5 years is the new world record for field development, set by Italy's EMI with the Zor field in Egypt's EEZ. All companies internationally are now compared with this goal and the head of EDEYEP Aristophanes Stefatos is optimistic, according to what he conveys to “K”, that we could achieve it.

Strong, according to relevant factors, Chevron's interest in Greek hydrocarbons also remains, which was also seen by the participation of its executives in last Tuesday's EDEYEP event for the presentation of its new corporate identity. Greece will seek to investigate investment interest from new companies at the annual oil conference that will take place in Egypt between February 13-15. In addition to the managing director of EDEYEP, Aristophanes Stefatos, the minister Kostas Skrekas will also attend the conference.

Source: www.kathimerini.com.cy

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