The Greek Hydrocarbon Management Company (EDEY) is examining the prospect of staging more international tenders, driven by the belief that new technologies are making related investments sustainable despite lower petroleum prices, the company’s chief executive Yiannis Bassias has told industry publication GeoExPro.

Offshore areas southwest of Crete and in the Ionian Sea represent a stable part of the wider east Mediterranean region, compared to other troubled areas, Bassias stressed in the interview.

The Zohr (Egypt) and Aphrodite (Cyprus) natural gas field discoveries in the east Mediterranean have established Greece’s western flank as a key center of oil investor interest, he added.

The EDEY chief pointed out that a plan to reprocess seismic data promises to unlock mineral resources in the country’s offshore areas.

Bassias noted that 12,500 square kilomoters of 2D seismic data collected by Norway’s PGS in 2012 is being reprocessed. The first batch of results is expected within the current month, further findings are expected in January, while the entire reprocessing initiative should be completed next June, the EDEY head informed.

The company is also considering collecting new 3D seismic data in the Ionian Sea’s north, including west and south of Corfu, Bassias informed. He expressed support for the collection of more detailed data in an area south of Crete covering 4,000 square kilometers.

Greece’s western side has emerged as a strategically significant corridor, as is highlighted by the number of natural gas pipelines hosted in the area, such as the TAP project, now being constructed and planned to run across northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy, the EDEY chief noted.

Bassias admitted that oil exploration ventures off Crete remain a high-risk investement promising high returns.