First Agreements for Hydrocarbons Survey & Mining Finally Signed

Three contracts were signed on Tuesday at the Ministry of Environment regarding the location and mining of oil and natural gas in the areas of Ioannina, the Western Gulf of Patra and Katakolo. The contracts, according to local press reports, are going to be effective as soon as they are ratified in the Greek Parliament.

Present at the signing were Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Minister of Environment Yannis Maniatis.

The contract in Ioannina was signed with the Energean Oil and Gas / Petra Petroleum group, the contract for Katakolo was signed with Energean Oil and Gas / Trajan Oil & Gas Ltd, while in the Gulf of Patra, the deal was sealed with the Hellenic Petroleume / Edison / Petroceltic group.

All the aforementioned companies have committed to investing a minimum of 60 million Euros, while estimations regarding the volume of hydrocarbons in the three areas suggest that there could be up to 300 million barrels of oil.

The government estimates that it will collect up to 18 billion dollars over 30 years.