Chevron Permit to Explore Greek Sea for Hydrocarbons Draws Protests
Source: Balkan Insight
Map of the area where exploration will take place (outlined in red). Photo: Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company, HEREMA.
Greece’s government said it will allow US oil and gas giant Chevron and the Greek oil company HELLENiQ Energy to searching for hydrocarbons in Greek waters south of the Peloponnese – drawing criticism from environmentalists on Thursday.
The Greek department of the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, denounced the welcome, stressing that the country’s proclaimed green transition is not compatible with deep-sea mining.
“The hasty interest of the oil giant Chevron in proceeding with hydrocarbon extraction in Greece, combined with the immediate positive response from the Greek government, at best shows a double standard from the government that presents itself as green, as a pioneer in the green transition,” WWF Greece said.
While environmental organisations protested, the Ministry of Environment and Energy highlighted the potential gains.
“The investment interest … underlines the trust of the international investment community in the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, while highlighting once again Greece’s potential to develop into a regional energy hub and ensure its energy independence,” Environment and Energy Minister Theodoros Skylakakis said in a press release issued on January 20.
The ministry characterised Chevron’s show of interest as an important development, “carried out with parallel care in terms of environmental footprint, so as to produce not only energy but also major environmental benefits for the country”.
It announced that it would grant Chevron a huge area adjacent to the planned Ionian National Marine Park, which, however, would be expanded by adding parts of the area allocated for mining.
WWF Greece responded that Chevron’s granting part of the mining area to expand “the under-created marine protected area in the Hellenic Trench (Western Peloponnese) can only be perceived as a bad joke. Mining and the protection of marine life do not go together.”
The government in April 2024 said it would proceed with declaring marine parks in the Aegean Sea, which would include about 45 uninhabited rocky islets and their marine zones, and in the Ionian Sea, to protect biodiversity.
A tender for the concessions “Block A2” and “South of Peloponnese,” will be submitted to the ministry at the end of January. Following ministerial approval, the invitation to tender will be published in the Greek Government Gazette and the Official Journal of the European Union.
Greece’s government in 2019 approved an earlier concession to a consortium of companies to explore the area west and southwest of Crete for oil and gas. As the European Union seeks to end its reliance on Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine, it has increased the need for Greece to tap domestic resources.
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