The Greek government will launch tender procedures for oil exploration contracts in the Ionian Sea and southern Crete in 2012, after completion of seismic research in these regions, Environment, Energy and Climate Change Deputy minister Yiannis Maniatis told a Mediterranean conference on oil and natural gas on Monday.
The Greek minister also left the door open for possible synergies between the natural gas pipelines of Turkey-Greece-Italy and TAP (Turkey-Greece-Albania-Italy), while he mentioned the role of Russia in ensuring energy supplies for Europe, in the aftermath of a crisis in North African countries.
Maniatis said procedures to set up a public agency, which will take over the management of state rights in exploration and exploitation of oil and natural gas fields, were under way, while he noted that the government was modernizing the country's institutional framework on exploration, based on the Norwegian framework.
The Greek minister stressed that plans to build natural gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea to Europe should be based on viability and technical maturity criteria and not on political criteria.
"The Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline is more mature, financially affordable and with the right dimensions, minimizing geopolitical risks compared with other options," Maniatis said.
He left the door open, however, for synergies with the TAP pipeline.
Greece supports the construction of the South Stream pipeline, Maniatis said while he stressed that Russian energy exports immediately covered the gap left by North Africa in the last few months.
Commenting on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, the Greek minister expressed the hope that local societies and Bulgarian authorities will respond positively to a new environmental survey submitted by the operating company to the Bulgarian government.
ANA-MPA
