Energean Wins Western Greece Licence
Greece’s independent energy player Energean Oil & Gas has secured a 25-year exploration license for the proven West Katakolon offshore field, western Peloponnese, after signing a deal with Greece’s energy ministry, the company said November 29.
Energean will be the operator for the exploration and development of the West Katakolon area as part of the Katakolon concession that covers 60km². It has about 10mn barrels of oil equivalent recoverable reserves.
A field development program will be submitted to the energy ministry by the end of February, 2017 with plans to start drilling in 2018. Energean is planning to use extended reach drilling technology to drill from onshore to offshore reservoirs.
West Katakolon will be Energean’s third offshore plan, joining the 15mn barrels/d Epsilon oil field in the Prinos concession and the much larger proven Karish and Tanin natural gas fields off Israel.
Prinos rig
(Credit: Energean)
Energean recently announced the acquisition of the world-class 2.4 trillion ft³ Karish and Tanin fields from Delek Drilling and Avner for $148mn. “The progression of West Katakolon into its development phase is an important milestone for both Energean and Greece. It will be the first ever hydrocarbon production program in the west of the country and a major boost to the economy following the challenges of the last few years,” said CEO Mathios Rigas. “We are committing to the $50mn investment in Katakolon, as a first step in seeking to open up the oil and gas opportunities in this highly promising territory – an area with similar geology to the wider Adriatic zone, well known for its prolific hydrocarbon systems in Italy, Albania and Croatia.”
According to the company, the new asset will be the third oil and gas field to be developed by Energean in Greece additional to the Prinos oil field and the South Kavala gas field, both in the northern Aegean Sea.
Energean is aiming to increase its oil output in Greece to 10,000b/d by 2018 through an ongoing $200mn investment programme with low break-even costs, according to Rigas. “Energean has also prepared for exploration drilling in Egypt, onshore West Kom Ombo block in the next few months,” he added.
Kama Mustafayeva