EDEY, the Greek Hydrocarbon Management Company, and a consortium comprising Spain’s Repsol and ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum) have completed negotiations for exploration and production rights at a new Ionian Sea block on offer.
The two sides have delivered a draft agreement to the energy ministry. It will also be forwarded to a supervisory committee within the next few days for approval before being signed by all sides involved and submitted to parliament for ratification. The agreement could be finalized by the end of the month, sources informed.
The new Ionian Sea block, measuring 6,612 square kilometers, is the latest block to be offered to investors by EDEY following blocks southwest and west of Crete that were made available in the summer of 2017 through international tenders.
As has been previously reported, Energean Oil & Gas’s early interest in this new Ionian Sea block prompted the latest procedure. Energean, operating Prinos oil fields in Greece’s north as well as Israel’s Karish and Tanin gas fields, ended up not submitting an offer for this Ionian Sea block. Instead, Repsol and ELPE emerged with a joint bid.
Repsol, which has developed into an exploratory force in western Greece and the Ionian Sea, is pressuring for a swift bureaucratic procedure in order to commence seismic survey work at the new block.
Repsol also jointly holds onshore licenses, with Energean as its partner, in northwestern Greece’s Ioannina and Etoloakarnania regions.
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