Petroleum geology

One hundred scientists, scientific bodies and organizations from different parts of the world have joined forces with WWF Greece to urge Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to cancel planned hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in the Ionian Sea, the environmental conservation group said in a press release Monday.

A ministerial decree approving the environmental reports for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation west and southwest of Greece's island of Crete was signed on Tuesday by the Environment Ministry.

As expected, ExxonMobil's first exploratory drilling in block 10 has been completed.

According to an official announcement from the Ministry of Energy, exploratory drilling on target Delphyne-1 by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus (Offshore) Limited and Qatar Petroleum International Upstream OPC has been completed.

A fire broke out on an offshore pipeline rig at Limassol port on Friday, with local media saying there were no injuries.

According to local reports, an oil platform was anchored at Limassol port when its engine caught fire on Friday around noon.

Russia shipped record volumes of crude oil to China in October as independent refiners continued to fill import quotas, while Iranian oil shipments fell on uncertainty over Washington's imposition of sanctions on Tehran, data showed on Nov. 26.

The drillship Stena IceMax is expected to arrive by Monday at the Cypriot port of Limassol.

The ship has been commissioned by US oil giant Exxon Mobil to drill for hydrocarbons in Block 10 of Cyprus' exclusive economic zone. Block 10 is on the EEZ's southwest.

Hydrocarbon exploration in the Ionian Sea, in the areas of Patra Bay and Katakolo in the Peloponnese, will begin next year.

The announcement was made by Yannis Bassias, the head of Greece's oil and gas resources management company (HHRM), during a conference Tuesday.

The oil industry needs to quickly step up investment to meet rising demand as the booming US shale sector will only be able to quench the global thirst for crude for the next two years, the International Energy Agency said on March 5.

Italian energy giant ENI is expected to start three hydrocarbon exploratory wells in blocks three, six and eight in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on November 1.

The well in block 6 is a joint venture with French energy concern TOTAL and is in an area hotly contested by Turkey.

Drilling offshore Cyprus’ plot 11 or ‘Onisiforos’ by energy giants TOTAL and ENI with the West Capella rig has reached the first 2,430 meters in ocean floor depth, Phileleftheros reported on Wednesday.

And this means that the first of eight overall stages of scheduled drilling – which began a week ago – is now complete.