FACTDROP

Mr. Alain Bruneton, Dr. Elias Konofagos and Professor Anthony E. Foscolos: A scientific document that attempts to prove that there must be enough hydrocarbon deposits in the South-Eastern Mediterranean to contribute significantly to the ever-starved for energy European Union. Geological and Geochemical Evidences Indicating the Existence of Large Hydrocarbon Deposits in the Libyan Sea Within the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone.

Serious scientific evidence shows that the sea area south of Crete holds a wealth of oil, mainly gas, capable to solve the economic problems of Greece, but also to address the issue of unemployment.

The identification was made by professor emeritus Antonis Foskolos of the Department of Mineral Resources and Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, and emeritus researcher at the Geological Survey of Canada, who spoke on 23/2 at the Greek Geological Society and the day after at the Economist Conference in Lagonissi.

According to Mr. Foskolos, the proclamation of a Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has a huge economic and geopolitical importance as they will achieve:

- Exploiting the potential of rich offshore oil deposits in the south of Crete

- The gas pipeline that will pass through the Greek EEZ for the transport of very large quantities of gas runs in the eastern Mediterranean and Crete.

According to the professor, “the 2 areas that have significant scientific evidence is south of Crete, are 9 mud volcanos southeast of Crete, in the Greek Herodotus basin. More: South of Crete, namely around mud volcanos should be no hydrocarbon reserves, but primarily natural gas, approximately 1.5 trillion cubic metres. This is comparable with what has been found in the Nile Delta, the Caspian Sea (deposit Shah Deniz), Norway and elsewhere.

Southeast of Crete is the basin of Herodotus. The Greek part of the basin must have probable reserves of the order of about 2 trillion cubic metres, in line with the discoveries of natural gas in the Nile Delta (SHELL, BP), a very recent study by OMV and estimates of potential gas reserves in the Cyprus section of the basin adjacent to Herodotus the Greek part of the basin of Herodotus . The sediments are of the same origin and geological formations very similar. Of all the potential 3.5 trillion cubic metres gas deducting an amount of 0.75 trillion cubic metres for the elimination of import of crude oil for 25 years, which shows a saving of about 223.75 billion U.S. dollars’.

BENEFITS

For general benefits for Greece, Mr. Foskolos notes, inter alia, that the recovery – exploitation of these deposits will create at least 100,000 jobs in the primary sector and 200,000 jobs in the secondary sector, a total of 300,000 jobs, while all revenue to be reaped by the Greek state in 25 years amounts to 437 billion U.S. dollars and the rate of the dollar to the euro to 302 billion, not counting the profits from the pipeline transportation of natural gas to Europe, at a lenght of 1000 km at a cost of approximately $ 20,000 / km, or 25 billion U.S. dollars.

Professor Giannis Makri agrees with Mr. Foscolo: “There are two potential hydrocarbon reserves southwest of Crete, where sediment has a thickness of 10 to 12 kilometer, and hydrocarbon reserves in Western Crete, where there are 3 fields of mud volcanos.

It is absolutely necessary to undertake three-dimensional high-resolution geophysical surveys under the evaporites throughout southern Crete to discover the size of deposits of hydrocarbons. The cost is estimated at 6 million. “

ENERGY

Moreover, the professor notes that the European Union will have an energy deficit over the next decade and thus will gain great economic and geopolitical importance of the hydrocarbon reserves of the eastern Mediterranean and Crete, as estimated by the U.S. Geological Service and BEICIP / FRANLAB-IFP France. And this is because we have to meet the huge energy deficit of the EU in 2020, which will reach approximately 850 billion cubic metres per year, a quantity that can not be met solely by the duo Russia and North Africa (Algeria and Libya).