New data to utilize energy resource of the country, who will put it in the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Club and at the same time enhance Athens’ attempt to secure and exercise its sovereign rights, the confirmation of the interest of the American oil giant entry Chevrontogether with the Helleniq Energyon the plots south of Crete and the Peloponnese.
“I think this is the best proof of the way our government perceives the upgrading of the country’s geopolitical position. We turn into an important energy player in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is recognized by the EU and the US, “said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is meeting tomorrow with the Minister of the Interior and Head of the US Council of Energy Sovereignty, N. Bergam, with whom he said they will discuss” the way we are constantly upgrading our strategic energy “.
The Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, as soon as the competition closed, stressed that “he opens a new chapter for the utilization of the underwater energy wealth of our country. This is an evolution of hope and perspective for our country. Greece, with national confidence, lays solid foundations for its energy self -sufficiency and exploits its geopolitical position in the Eastern Mediterranean … “.
Completion of the competition, which is the starting point for the process of acquiring research and exploitation for these areas by both companies, It is an emblematic moment for Greece’s long attempt to research and utilize its energy resources. An effort, which has faced, among other things, major geopolitical challenges, as the confrontation with Turkey had essentially put any such effort “on the ice”, not only in the areas that Ankara raises, but even in the Ionian and central Mediterranean.
The contest for the Plots South of Crete is crucial, as these two plots, which were engraved more than ten years ago, remained inactive, as Greece had not decided to exercise its sovereign rights in this area and to exploit the potential of the Law 4001/2011, EEZ/continental shelf, setting the midline as a boundary line, in cases where there was no bilateral agreement.
The competition for plots west and southwest of Crete had sparked Libya’s reaction. However, ExxonMobil’s entry had come before the Turkish -tired Memorandum, which attempted to impose negatively on our country.
The government’s decision to launch the competition for the two plots south of Crete was a clear choice for both the Turkish -tired Memorandum and the Maximalist positions of Libya, which sought to convey the midfield to our country. Both by Law 4001/2011 and the competition for the two plots, Greece for the first time perhaps imposes an end to the exercise of its sovereign rights and exerts pressure on Libya, but also indirectly to Turkey, as the area where its two plots are overlapping a significant part of the EEZ. Turkolibyan memorandum.
In the past, there has been an official reaction from Libya, with a verbal decoration at the UN (June 20), in which he argued that the two plots fall into the Libyan continental shelf, while in another letter (27 May) Tripoli promoted its distant claims to territorial waters of Crete. And of course almost the entire plots south of Crete were overwhelmed.
Athens had responded to the Libyan allegations, and even after the visit of Gerapetritis to Tripoli and Benghazi, the efforts to resume, after ten years, of the EEZ delineation talks between the two countries, was launched, under the pressure of Libya and Libya with the Libya. Spatial planning.
The fact that in this complex and very sensitive scene the American colossus Chevron expresses interest and participates in the competition for the two plots is the most powerful response to the contests of Greek sovereign rights.
It is obvious that a company, no matter how great it is, is not the one who awardes sovereignty. But the fact that Chevron accepts the Greek landmark and midline as defined by Greece, despite their intense effort to challenge them, “secures” the Greek position and creates, if the seismic surveys and later the trial drilling, a “trial”.
Chevron, however, has also expressed interest in its entry into Libya, in offshore investigations, without this being problematic at present, as the plots that Tripoli will allocate in an international competition have fully respected the Greek midline, despite the fact that it has officially respected it.