Serious scientific evidence shows that the sea area south of Crete holds a wealth of oil, mainly gas, capable of solving all of Greece's economic woes.
When back in March hellasfrappe said in one of its articles that everything that was going on in Greece right was staged, and that this is all a fake economic crisis so that several big players can get their hands on our natural gas and oil reserves people actually laughed at us. They thought we were insane... They thought that because of our love for this country we were reluctant to accept what they thought was the truth. Months later, people are seeing that speculators are playing "shady" games with the capital markets, they found out that there must have been a plan to topple the former government of Costas Karamanlis, then they found out that Greece's public deficit was purposely inflated so that it can become uncontrollable and get us deeper into debt and people also discovered that our own prime minister's brother is part of a company that gives advice to hedge fund gamblers who are betting that our economy will default....
These people should realize that the reason we believed this so strongly back then and more so today is because we did our homework, before, during and after.
Basically, Greece's debt problem was manageable when the Karamanlis government lost power in October 2009, but the socialist PASOK party of George Papandreou purposely led us to sign a pact with the Troika (EU, IMF and European Central Bank). Aside from the natural gas and oil that is found in the Eastern Med. the southern part of Crete also has unmeasurable wealth. Before I get into the story about this, I would just like to remind all of you that when George Papandreou announced that Greece would accept aid from the Troika he did so from Kastelorizo... yes, indeed... the island which is today in the middle of the hunt for black gold in the East Med. And he rushed to this one day before the EU voted on more favorable loan conditions for other states, such as Ireland and Portugal... coincidence? Or was it part of a larger plan... between the both of us I would choose the second!
According to professor emeritus Antonis Foskolos of the Department of Mineral Resources and Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, the proclamation of Greece's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (which purposely is not being called by the Papandreou government) has a huge economic and geopolitical importance as it will achieve:
- the exploitation of potential rich offshore oil deposits in the south of Crete
- and the construction of a gas pipeline that will run through the Greek EEZ and transport large quantities of gas in the eastern Mediterranean and Crete.
According to Foskolos, the two areas that in his professional opinion have significant amount of deposits are nine mud volcanoes southeast of Crete, in the Greek Herodotus basin.
More precisely, the mud volcanoes in this area contain high amounts of hydrocarbon reserves, primarily natural gas, of approximately 1.5 trillion cubic meters!
This is comparable with what has been found in the Nile Delta, the Caspian Sea (deposit Shah Deniz), Norway and elsewhere.
In his expert opinion, the south eastern basin of Herodotus in Crete has reserves that surpass two trillion cubic meter mark. This is a vast amount and can only be compared to what was discovered in the Nile Delta (by SHELL, BP) . He says the sediments are of the same origin and geological formations are very similar. In all so far, it is estimated that there are 3.5 trillion cubic meters of gas located there, which can be equaled to 20-22 billion barrels of oil!
In his expert opinion, the south eastern basin of Herodotus in Crete has reserves that surpass two trillion cubic meter mark. This is a vast amount and can only be compared to what was discovered in the Nile Delta (by SHELL, BP) . He says the sediments are of the same origin and geological formations are very similar. In all so far, it is estimated that there are 3.5 trillion cubic meters of gas located there, which can be equaled to 20-22 billion barrels of oil!
The benefits for Greece are obvious. Foskolos believes that the exploitation of these deposits will create a total of 300,000 jobs. At least 100,000 in the primary sector and 200,000 jobs in the secondary sector, while all revenue can be reaped by the Greek state in 25 years amounts to 437 billion US and this is not counting the profits from the pipeline that will transport the natural gas to Europe ( at a length of 1000 km at a cost of approximately $ 20,000 / km, or 25 billion US dollars.)
Other experts agree with Foskolos as well. A separate report on the Chaniotika nea site said that Professor Giannis Makris says that there are two potential hydrocarbon reserves southwest of Crete, where sediment thickness frin 10 to 12 kilometers, and there are hydrocarbon reserves in Western Crete where there are 3 fields of mud volcanoes.
A report on defencenet today confirmed Foskolos' findings.
He says that it is absolutely necessary to undertake three-dimensional high-resolution geophysical surveys throughout southern part of Crete so that the size of the hydrocarbon deposits can be measured. The cost, according to him for conducting such a survey, runs in the area of approximately 6 million Euros.
Makris says that the European Union will have an energy problem over the next decade and that is why the hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean and under Crete are of great economic and geopolitical importance, as estimated by the US Geological Service and BEICIP / FRANLAB-IFP France.
And this is because the member states will have higher energy needs by 2020, which are estimated to reach approximately 850 billion cubic metres per year. This quantity can not be met solely by relying on gas supply from Russia and North Africa ( mainly Algeria and Libya), so now do you understand why everyone wants a piece of Greece. Now do you still think its about our debt... or its all about the oil?
You be the judge.
Signed
Marina Spanos
Makris says that the European Union will have an energy problem over the next decade and that is why the hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean and under Crete are of great economic and geopolitical importance, as estimated by the US Geological Service and BEICIP / FRANLAB-IFP France.
And this is because the member states will have higher energy needs by 2020, which are estimated to reach approximately 850 billion cubic metres per year. This quantity can not be met solely by relying on gas supply from Russia and North Africa ( mainly Algeria and Libya), so now do you understand why everyone wants a piece of Greece. Now do you still think its about our debt... or its all about the oil?
You be the judge.
Signed
Marina Spanos