EDEY, the Greek Hydrocarbon Management Company, is now establishing a reinforced scientific team to be tasked with delivering findings, in seven months, of surveys conducted at offshore areas in the Ionian Sea and south of Crete as well as onshore location in the country’s north.

The effort will entail reexamining older data produced by previous surveys. In addition, the reinforced team will also conduct preliminary methane hydrate studies for methane molecules, which could represent a future fuel, according to the scientific community.

One the new team’s research has been completed, EDEY will be in a position to present its results at international conferences and work groups in an effort to attract offshore and onshore exploration and production investments.

EDEY, the Greek Hydrocarbon Management Company, is focusing its efforts on promoting the multiple hydrocarbon prospects presented by Greece, currently producing crude at just one field, the company’s recently appointed chairman Yiannis Basias notes in an article appearing in Greek Energy 2017, an annual energypress industry publication.

“Our aim is to revitalize Greece’s oil and gas sectors having first created an organization that possesses deep knowledge on technical, legal and financial aspects concerning the counry’s hydrocarbon sector,” notes Basias, who was appointed head of EDEY last November for a five-year term.

The EDEY head notes that, as part of the effort to build a formidable team, the hydrocarbon company has, since December, 2016, been appointing well-trained young PhDs from Greece and around the world, as well as equally qualified officials made available by Greek ministries.

This staffing procedure has moved swiftly to date and is planned to continue throughout 2017 and 2018, Basias informs, adding that, at present, EDEY maintains a ten-member team possessing the credentials to talk on equal terms with prospective investors.

“We need to create a technical team that knows what we’re looking and negotiating for,” Basias stresses in the Greek Energy 2017 article. “We can’t succeed in negotiations if we do not know what out objectives are. Otherwise, negotiations usually end up being dominated by legal and financial matters.”

The priority at EDEY over the next few months will be to study and promote Greek offshore and onshore locations that have yet to attract the interest of investors, Basias points out.

A total of 17 blocks, still available following a previous Greek hydrocarbon tender, appear to be drawing the interest of major investors, the EDEY chief notes, adding that the discovery of the giant Zohr gas deposit in Egyptian territory by Eni has turned the industry’s attention to the wider east Mediterranean region, including western Greece, where the geological features are believed to be similar.

The area south of Crete is also a key part of EDEY’s wider plans and is generating interest despite complex geological conditions, Basias informs in the article. Subsequently, EDEY has signed a partnership agreement with the Technical University of Crete. It includes a seismic data simulation program concerning west Crete as well as the creation of a hydrocarbon data bank for all of Greece.

EDEY, the Greek Hydrocarbon Management Company, is considering to conduct seismic surveys in three regions, two of these for a second time as a result of the need to clarify  findings of previous efforts.

The company deems that new scans are required for areas south of Corfu and south of Crete as the results of the respective initial surveys conducted by Norwegian company PGS require greater detail.

According to the hydrocarbon company’s new chairman Yiannis Basias, a 3D scan could also be conducted in an area between Crete and the Peloponnese. PGS had not conducted a survey here.

EDEY hopes these initiatives will attract investors for exploration as was the case three years ago when Italy’s Enel had expressed an interest to explore and exploit three offshore blocks in western Greece before stepping back.

Despite providing an incentive for local authorities to stage international tenders, Enel ended up not submitting any bids as a result of a series of factors, including bureaucratic delays and the drop in international oil prices.

Even so, the EDEY chief believes that the Italian company’s retreat should not discourage further efforts. Basias noted that sufficient investor interest could soon be generated to warrant a return of seismic survey vessels within the next 6 to 12 months.

“We are more mature now, have learnt from our mistakes and omissions and know precisely why companies did not take part in the previous tenders,” noted Basias.

The recent discovery, by ENI, of the Zohr field, a giant gas deposit in Egyptian waters, is proving to be a game changer that is encouraging reinterpretaions of older surveys in the wider region.

EDEY, the Greek Hydrocarbon Management Company, is pushing for swifter finalization of pending exploration and exploitation agreements and also preparing to stage new tenders offering bigger blocks over the next year.

As was recently reported by energypress, EDEY has decided to reprocess data collected from seismic surveys conducted in 2012 in the Ionian Sea and areas south and east of Crete.

EDEY intends to stage tenders offering prospective investors bigger and more enticing offshore blocks than those offered in a previous round held back in 2014. The latest overall drive highlights EDEY’s renewed interest in exploring and utilizing Greece’s hydrocarbon potential.

The hydrocarbon company is currently seeking to appoint a consultant as an associate for guidance in negotiations and the establishment of new hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation licenses.

In another indicator of the heightened interest shown lately by Greek authorities in the hydrocarbon sector, just days ago, the energy ministry finalized a license agreement offering Block 2, off the Ionian island Corfu, to a consortium comprised of ELPE, Total and Edison.

The energy ministry plans to restage tenders for 17 blocks in the region that had failed to draw investor bids during the previous round of 2014. Some of these blocks may be joined to increase their size and increase the attraction for prospective investors.

Besides Block 2, investors submitted bids for just two other offshore licenses – Block 1, close to the Greek-Albanian border, and Block 10, in Kyparissia, western Peloponnese – during the previous round.