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Greece initiates two offshore oil and gas tenders

The Greek company Hellenic Hydrocarbons Resources Management (HHRM) has launched two tenders for offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Greece. Interested bidders will have to submit offers within 90 days.



Greece is seeking to boost exploration after major gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the country has launched an ambitious exploration and production programme. However, the 2014 auction proved unsuccessful and a following tender for oil and gas exploration in three onshore blocks in western Greece in 2015 only attracted two bids from Greek companies, namely Hellenic Petroleum (Greece's largest oil refiner) and Energean Oil & Gas (the country's sole oil producer).



In May 2017, the Ministry of Energy of Greece received expressions of interest from a consortium of ExxonMobil, Total and Hellenic Petroleum for oil and gas exploration and production in two blocks off the island of Crete; Energean had also expressed interest in a block in the Ionian Sea. The blocks are part of the 17 of 20 blocks offered in 2014 that failed to attract investors.