GOOD NEWS - Norwegians Complete Research for Oil & Gas in Greek Waters

The Ionian Sea and the area south of the island of Crete are promising in terms of hydrocarbon research, Norwegian-based PGS said on Thursday in a preliminary assessment of its seismological exploration in these areas. PGS presented the fast-track results at the Environment Ministry, where company representatives said a report on the in-depth processing of the data collected would be ready between December 2013 and January 2014.

The company said its purpose was to understand the structure of the seabed and locate oil beds ahead of the state's initiating a tendering for research expected in mid-2014, to give oil companies data to decide whether they were interested in conducting further research for oil and gas, and whether it would be in their interest to submit tenders for drilling licences.

PGS has covered 12,500 kms of seismic lines, while another 6,000 km have been covered in previous explorations.

The state did not provide funds for the research, but it will receive betweem 10 and 50 percent of PGS's revenues from the sale of data to oil companies, depending on the volume of data made available. (AMNA)