Ionnian Sea oil searches postponed

09/01/2012 00:00

Oil researches have been postponed in the Ionian Sea, near the city of
Saranda, South of Albania. The searches should have started on October
2011, but they have been postponed without a new starting date.

Albanian Government hired a Scottish Company that studied the area at the Greek Border, through an agreement that entered in act in 2007. According to the schedule, the diggings on terrain should have started by October 2011.

Sources from the Ministry of Energy deny any relation of the motives for this postponement to the border change agreements with Greece. According to them, the works were postponed by a law amend that passed earlier this year, which sanctioned new negotiations with the Scottish “Capricorn”, and that the works will start right after this process will be over.

The studies held by the Scottish companies proved that there is a high probability of finding oil in the areas near the Greek border, but authorities say that the oil filled spots are far from the controversial borderline.

Meanwhile, Greece has started negotiations with foreign companies for searching oil in the Corfu Strait. These negotiations have become more intensive in the last two years, after failing to change the borders with the Albanian government in the Ionian Sea.

Albania was the first to search for oil in the area, but the new concessionary agreement seems to have made us lose the advantage on Greece.

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