The official presentation (without secrecy anymore) of the Norwegian company PGS, regarding the seismic data of Southern Crete, couldn’t be clearer about the future, as the report explains that it is a border area with potential.
More practically we have mud volcanoes, natural gas emissions and salt structures.
All these elements are direct scientific evidence for hydrocarbon potential.
And if we take into consideration, that those are already identified by seismic data based on a 40km x 40km sparse grid, then it becomes understandable to even non-specialists, that there is a huge potential for the entire region south of Crete, namely the nine marine plots of the Greek EEZ.
We know due to tectonic dynamics, that the area south of Crete is the Aegean border, where the Eurasian tectonic plate passes over the African one, with the creation of the Mediterranean ridge and of course, aspects that are ideal traps for hydrocarbons, a factor which is also confirmed by the mud volcanoes and the natural gas emission, which is an indication of pre-Messinian rocks.
In the illustration we see the seismic results diagonally, which are starting from the free Phaistos area and ends towards Libya, where we see characteristic features of the geological structure, which constitute important indications for target-reserves.
It may so be, that the mismanagement of the hydrocarbon lisencing round, in conjunction with the adverse political context, do not help Crete, but all these do not change anything regarding the reality of the strategy of its reserves.
It is therefore important to bear in mind that we must procure seismic surveys in order to have a denser grid, 10km x 10km, and so to attract efficacious oil companies and simultaneously promote the research for unconventional hydrocarbons such as methane hydrates.
If necessary, we should consider to place necessary incentives in order to also attract constructive high-level researches, which would be applicable in order to obtain concrete results for strategic investments without waiting any longer.