Energean Oil & Gas’s investment program in the wider Prinos area, northern Greece, has been given a major boost following latest hydrocarbon drill findings, which have increased the area’s reserve estimate to approximately 40 million barrels from 30 million two years ago.

The company has submitted all the related data to an independent international firm for certification.

Energean has successfully completed four drills over the past year, tripling its daily production in the Prinos area to nearly 5,000 barrels. The company launched a fifth drilling endeavor just a few days ago.

Energean’s CEO Mathios Rigas noted Energean plans to increase daily production to 10,000 barrels per day if the latest results are officially confirmed.

Futhermore, processing and interpretation of data accumulated from seismic research conducted by the company in the summer of 2015 has upgraded the hydrocarbon deposit estimate at its Gulf of Kavala “Epsilon” license to a certified 15 million barrels.

These latest figures vindicate Energean which acquired its exploration rights for Prinos in 2007 when its proven reserves, overall, amounted to just 2 million barrels and the area was essentially regarded as one that lacked potential.

Investments of 350 million euros were made to keep the deposit alive, creating 200 new jobs for a total of over 460 now employed at Energean.