Energean Group CEO, Mathios Rigas, underlined the need for the European Union and the governments to take specific decisions immediately on the research and development of local deposits, in order to cover the large deficit in natural gas and to avoid serious socio-economic consequences.
Rigas was speaking at the closed round table discussion during the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) held in Athens.
Rigas pointed out that only in the EMGF member countries there is a deficit of 130 billion cubic meters per year, at a time when important field development projects have been launched or are underway only in Israel and Italy.
“This is the elephant in the room,” Energean’s CEO said and added: “It is time to stop talking and implement concrete policies while giving clear directions of support at the EU level for the natural gas industry, in order to remove the bans that have been imposed on the financing of the sector by the banks.”
“We must finally understand that we will either produce natural gas or import it,” Rigas emphasized, adding that the needs in economies and societies are enormous.
“If we choose to be at the end of a chain that will simply transport gas from elsewhere, then we should be prepared to face serious socio-economic consequences in the future, with energy planning security problems, expensive energy but also the loss of thousands of jobs,” the CEO of Energean explained.
N. Katcharov: We invested 400 million in Egypt, the keys are in the hands of the politicians
Speaking at an EMGF panel on ‘Research for natural gas: tapping into the Eastern Mediterranean’, Eng. Dr. Nicolas Katcharov, CEO of Energean International, said that the company has invested about 400 million euros in Egypt, doubling production from fields in the Nile Delta in a country with huge natural gas needs.
“We continue to produce and proceed with the exploitation of new deposits in Croatia, as well as in Italy, where natural gas production from the Cassiopeia field in which we participate is expected to start in the summer, it seems that prospects are opening up again for the sector,” Katcharov said.
He added that operators are investing, despite the fact that there are not enough interconnections, and despite the fact that research and development costs have doubled in three years, without this being reflected in prices.
“We expect to see growth and incentives for industry in all economies and it is clear that politicians hold the keys to this,” Katcharov pointed out. “This is even more eent and vital especially in relation to the capture and storage of CO2, where the projects in progress are not guaranteed to be economical,” the CEO of Energean International stressed.
