Energean Oil and Gas has been praised for its work in Prinos, northern Greece, by reliable energy industry news portal oilbarrel.com, which, in a recent feature, noted the Greek oil firm had managed to reveal the true potential of the region’s deposit through work conducted over the past seven years.
As a result, the Prinos oil deposit’s potential has risen from two million barrels to 30 million barrels, while the production figure has jumped from 800 barrels per day to 1,800 barrels per day.
The article refers to an Energean investment plan worth 222 million, whose objective is to increase production to 10,000 barrels per day by 2016.
The Chairman and CEO of Energean Oil & Gas, Mathios Rigas, who was interviewed by Oilbarrel.com for the article, spoke about the prospects at Prinos as well as the company’s ambitious exploration plans for the wider area, beginning with Ioannina, northwestern Greece, and the Gulf of Patras, western Greece.
Beyond these projects, Energean is expected to play an active role in an imminent tender for a second round of exploration deals covering parts of Greece’s western flank, as well as areas south of Crete.
As for exploration in the wider southeast European region, Energean has already submitted bids for an international tender staged by Montenegro, as part of a consortium with Mediterranean Oil & Gas. The consortium is up against major players such as Eni, Novatek, and OMV.
Energean has already acquired exploration rights in Israel’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), at the Sara and Mira plots, with a 25 percent stake. The first round of drilling is scheduled to take place within 2015. “This could open up a whole new area for Cyprus, Israel and the entire region,” OIlbarrel.com quoted Rigas as saying. “We see ourselves as the regional leader. We have the operational capacity to work both on land and at sea.”
Irish firm Petroceltic, active in Greek oil exploration, was also included in the oilbarell.com feature. The company manages 260.7 million barrels of oil deposits, producing 25,000 barrels per day.