Hellenic Petroleum

US energy giant ExxonMobil, which has partnered with Greece's HELLENiQ Energy (formerly Hellenic Petroleum) in searching for natural gas and oil west and southwest of the Aegean island of Crete, not only is unconcerned about Turkish aggressive rhetoric against Greece but plans to accelerate its timeline for exploratory drilling by a year, Kathimerini understands.

After the Athens-Rome agreement on the continental shelf signed two years ago, seismic surveys will begin in the marine "block 2" - Ionian Sea - to identify potential hydrocarbon targets.

Movements to replace crude oil supplied by Russia have already been launched by the country's two refineries.

Russia's latest "game" with natural gas is causing serious turmoil in the Greek stock market, which is currently moving with significant losses. In particular, the general index is falling by 1.55% to 924.35 points, with a turnover of more than 15 million euros.

And officially TotalEnergies announced its withdrawal from the hydrocarbon investigations in the two maritime concessions of Crete it had leased three years ago as head of the joint venture with ExxonMobil and Hellenic Petroleum.

New seismic surveys are coming to offshore blocks that have been granted by the Greek state to oil companies to locate possible natural gas deposits.

The first drilling is expected to take place at the land concession of Ioannina and the sea "block 2" located Northwest of Corfu, which will give the first picture of the size of the natural gas deposits in Greece.

The establishment of a single company that will take over on behalf of the Greek state both the rights of exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons and the participations of DEPA in the international pipelines of natural gas is expected to be announced tomorrow morning by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Greece's privatization agency, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), on Thursday announced that it has received two binding offers for the 100 percent acquisition DEPA Infrastructure SA, in a joint sell-off with Hellenic Petroleum (Hel.Pe) group.
Binding offers were submitted by:

- EP Investment Advisors, and
- - ITALGAS SpA

Greater cooperation the energy sector appears to have topped the agenda of contacts in Athens this week by the prime minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev.

According to reports, a meeting with the management of Hellenic Petroleum (Hel.Pe) focused on resuming operation of a fuel pipeline that connects the Greek petrochemical group's refinery in Thessaloniki with Skopje.