Greece is looking for gas – that also benefits Germany

Athens At a snail’s pace of 3.4 knots, or 6.3 kilometers per hour, the “Sanco Swift” cruises off the south-western tip of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula. In tow, the ship has almost ten kilometers of cables with which it sends sonar waves to the seabed.

On behalf of the energy companies Exxon Mobil and Helleniq Energy, the research ship is now collecting data that could provide information about natural gas deposits.

With the dispatch of the “Sanco Swift” there is new movement in the development of the gas fields off Greece. The topic was neglected for a long time – for climate policy reasons, but also because of the supposedly reliable availability of cheap gas supplies from Russia.

Now Russia’s war against Ukraine and the energy crisis are forcing a rethink. Greece is looking for a replacement for Russian gas, which previously covered 45 percent of consumption.