Oil researches at Ionian Sea

“The agreement that the Albanian state has with ‘Capricorn’ is clear, and it says that the research area limit for this company will be at the southern Greek border with Greece, wherever it might be decided after an agreement between the two countries. Fortunately, all structures are inside our border”, says the Director of Fuels, Perparim Hajno.

“Albania has started looking for oil in the Ionian Sea many years before Greece, since September 2007. The company that makes the researches is Capricorn Albania, owned by Cairn Group, one of the biggest in Europe for independent researches for oil and gas. After the first phase of researches, the company has found three areas where there might be oil.

“We are much more ahead than the Greek part in this process. We have already followed the same methods that they are following today. We are on the phase when the prospects are given, the predictions for the possible structures of oil and gas, and now we are at another phase of looking inside the layers for oil”, Hajno declared.

The company should have started the second phase by the end of last year, but the process was postponed due to bureaucracies. The amended agreement was sent to the government and only after this procedure, the researches for oil will start again with the second phase of opening the underwater wells.

“The first three phases should have ended by 2010, but you must know that in 2009, when they were in the first phase of researches, there was a new law that forced some amends in the agreement, and this takes time”, Hajno declared.

Greek ship searches oil in Ionian Sea

The Greek Authorities announced that they have sent another ship for researching oil in the Ionian Sea. According to the Greek Ministry of Development and Infrastructure, the “Romulus” Ship was sent today in north of the Ionian Sea.

According to this Ministry, Romulus will arrive in north Ionnian sea on November 15th, where they will start the seismic researches for fuels.

According to the course and speed declared by the Partra captains, the ship will cross the Corfu Strait by midnight and will reach the researching area at 06:00.

Although there are no details for the travel, Romulus declared that their itinerary will be the area outside the Greek shores. According to the international law, they will start researching 12 miles within the Greek shore.

But it is still unknown if the Norwegian company will implement the research plan by including in it the maritime part that Albania gives Greece with the maritime pact.

Shuli: Ionian Sea, colossal reserves

Top Channel invited one of the best experts in the oil area, who has analyzed and studied the wealth of the underground, Maksim Shuli.

When asked about the oil and natural gas reserves that are expected to be in the maritime territory of Adriatic and Ionian seas, he said that Albania has oil reserves in ground and sea. They were explored in 1980 by the communist government and the first drills were made in the Ionian Sea. He says that the oil reserves are bigger than those declared by Albpetrol.

As for the part that belongs to Albania, and its value in money, Shuli declared that the US companies have drilled six wells and they estimate that there is 800 million tons of oil and 500 million cubic meters of natural gas in the territory that belongs to Albania. As for the monetary value, it changes. The petroleum price once was 5 dollars per barrel, and today it is 100 USD. Shuli added that different from the situation with Italy, Albania has had problems with Greece and the territories should be set as soon as possible.

When asked if these data were known to the governments after the 1990, and why they never tried to value this national asset, Shuli declared that no Minister, Prime Minister or whoever comes to power tomorrow can say that they have no information about the value. There’s a critical point when the barrel could cost 300 USD, and the matter is about the cost. 

Top Channel