The experience gained by Energean Oil & Gas in its hydrocarbon exploration and production efforts in the Prinos area, northeast Greece, are guiding its endeavors in western Greece and the Adriatic Sea, company officials have stressed at two international industry conferences.
Speaking at the 4th annual International “Balkans, Black Sea and the Adriatic” conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Mathios Rigas, Energean’s CEO, noted his company is the only one producing oil in Greece.
Rigas described Energean’s work in the Prinos area as a stand-out example of ongoing investment in research and development, strict maintenance of absolute safety for workers, environmental sensitivity – which has helped increase tourism activity in the Kavala and Thassos areas – as well as the benefits provided by oil production to local communities and the national economy.
“Over all these years, Energean has invested to generate know-how, scientific command, infrastructure, as well as considerable revenues for the international oil and gas industries by bringing to Greece companies such as BP, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, DNV-GL, Dolphin, CGG, Weatherford, Archer, SPD and others,” Rigas told the Dubrovnik conference. “Energean is currently conducting a program comprised of 15 drilling efforts, with its own drilling rig, ‘Energean Force’, in the Gulf of Kavala, with the objective of increasing its production by 30 million barrels through the development of 2P [Proven and Probable Reserves] deposits,” he continued.
At the same time, the company has also begun processing data collected from recent 3D seismic surveys in search of new probable oil deposits in the Prinos area, Rigas pointed out, while adding the company is also carrying on with research activity in the Katakolo area, western Peloponnese, where drilling is planned for the winter of 2016-2017, as well as the Ioannina area, in northwest Greece, where Energean recently conducted airborne gravity gradiometry (AGG) work to survey the hydrocarbons potential of an onshore license ahead of 2D seismic surveys next summer.
Rigas said Energean is also waiting for the outcome of licensing bids submitted for blocks in Etoloakarnania and Arta-Preveza, both in northwest Greece, and is also at an advanced stage of negotiations with the Montenegro government for three offshore licenses in the neighboring country.
“At a time when major companies such as Marathon and OMV in Croatia are constantly cutting back investment plans and jobs as a result of the significant drop in crude prices over the past year and a half, Energean remains committed to hydrocarbons development in the Aegean Sea, western Greece, and the Adriatic Sea, guided by the company’s experience in Prinos, its geological knowledge, as well as the wider region’s sociopolitical and economic particularities,” Rigas told the conference.
Steve Moore, Energean’s Technical Director, who represented the company at another event, the “Global Oil & Gas, Black Sea and Mediterranean” conference in Athens, presented the results of the company’s drilling efforts in Prinos as well as the company’s plans for two deposits in the area.
Also speaking at this Athens conference, Energean’s Technical Adviser, Dinos Nikolaou, highlighted the hydrocarbons growth potential in the areas of Katakolo, Ioannina and western Greece in general.