Greece News

Initial forecasts of major natgas deposit south of Crete raise eyebrows

Headlines on Thursday morning in Greece mostly focused on seismic results pointing to the prospect of a major natural gas deposit in a block, south of the large island of Crete, awarded to a Total-ExxonMobil-Hel.Pe consortium for hydrocarbon exploration.

Initial estimates, based on surveys ahead of actual test drilling, referred to a deposit of 280 billion cubic meters of natural gas – a mere figure that dominated newspaper headlines and morning news broadcasts.

The deposit has been designated with the code name “Talos”. Greece’s annual demand for natural gas is roughly four billion cubic meters every year.

The same consortium has been awarded a total of two sea blocks for exploration, west and southwest of Crete, with the relevant contracts ratified by Parliament earlier this month.

The seismic research was conducted by Norway-based PGS.

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