Petroleum geology

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.

Greece approved applications submitted by a consortium of Total, ExxonMobil and Hellenic Petroleum for oil and gas exploration and drilling off the island of Crete, its Energy Ministry said on Friday.

The ministry also approved an application submitted by Greece's sole oil producer Energean Oil for offshore drilling in western Greece, the ministry said.

French energy giant TOTAL is expected to start exploratory drilling in block 11 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone on July 14.

Block 11 covers some 2,958 square kilometres and the drill site is 150 km off the coast of Cyprus.

Before any exploratory work begins, a 4400-metre diameter area around the site will be explored for objects of archaeological interest.

ExxonMobil and partner Qatar Petroleum have signed a deal with Cyprus to carry out exploratory drilling off the east Mediterranean island's southern coast.

Qatar Petroleum chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi told the AP there's "a strong possibility" that the geological structure in the area where the partnership is licensed to drill could potentially hold hydrocarbons.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said on March 24 it has granted a permit for TransCanada to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, giving final approval to a project his predecessor had halted over environmental concerns.

Turkey will be more active in offshore oil and gas exploration with plans to conduct seismic studies in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean by the end of March or beginning of April, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak said March 14.