Energean for South Kavala: Whenever the Greek State wishes, it takes the concession back

On the occasion of the debate and the ratification in the Parliament of the 6th amendment of the Convention on the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the marine area of ​​the Thracian Sea, which concerns only the new extension of the validity of the exploitation license of the exhausted natural gas field in South Kavala, some parties tried to create a climate of supposedly “favorable provision” for Energean.

For this reason, the company emphasizes the following:

– The natural gas field in South Kavala has been exhausted, hence Energean’s proposal as early as 2011 to convert the exploitation license into a natural gas storage license – a proposal which, if accepted, the country would have already had several years its own warehouse and would have at its disposal a valuable infrastructure to mitigate the consequences of the energy crisis.

– The new extension given to the validity of the operating license is the 8th in a row. Since 2012, extensions have been given under three different governments and under six different Ministers of Environment and Energy, so the narrative of “favor” to Energean is clearly untenable.

– All extensions have been granted with the perspective of the creation of the underground natural gas storage, which to date has not become possible, while an international tender process is now underway by the Public Private Property Development Fund (TAIPED).

– The Greek State is served by the extensions. The expiry of the operating license would mean that the South Kavala concession would be returned by Energean to the Greek State, which would immediately become responsible for the maintenance, guarding and ensuring the safety conditions of the Kappa platform which is located in the sea area of Gulf of Kavala. And, in addition, the Greek State would be faced with significant costs of deforestation of a now inactive equipment.

The exhausted South Kavala field has long since ceased to be in the operational plans of Energean, which additionally has the obligation of continuous maintenance of the facility, so that it is kept in safe operating conditions. In any case, Energean is ready to return the South Kavala concession to the Greek State whenever requested. Energean has so far chosen to maintain concessions based on serving the public interest and not on purely business criteria, but it is clear that it will not accept to be in the position of apologist for serving any expediency.