Athens, Greece – May 14, 2014 is the date that marks the historic signing of the three concession agreements for hydrocarbons research in the areas of the Western Patraic Gulf, Ioannina and Katakolo.

The signing ceremony took place a few hours ago at the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change where the Minister Mr. Ioannis Maniatis signed the agreements in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Evangelos Venizelos, Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Mr. Edward Davey and other foreign dignitaries, market leaders and energy experts.

The three concession agreements have been signed with three different concessionaires upon the relevant unanimous approval by the tenders review committee:
a) For the offshore area of the Western Patraic Gulf, the concessionaire is the joint venture of Hellenic Petroleum, Edison and Petroceltic;
b) For the onshore area of Ioannina, the concessionaire is the joint venture of Energean Oil & Gas and Petra Petroleum; while
c) For the area of Katakolo (both onshore and offshore), the concessionaire is the joint venture of Energean Oil & Gas and Trajan Oil & Gas.

The signing of these agreements marks the end of the two-year journey which began with the opening of the tender process known as “Open Door” and paves the road for the first hydrocarbon research activities in Greece in decades. The area of Katakolo, in which reserves have been discovered since 1982, expects see production within the next three years.

KG Law Firm has a long involvement in the hydrocarbons sector in Greece and our partner Mr. Gus J. Papamichalopoulos, head of the Energy, Natural Resources & Utilities and Oil & Gas practice groups was invited by the Ministry to join the signing ceremony.

In addition, Gus Papamichalopoulos represented the Institute of Energy of South East Europe (IENE), under his capacity as General Secretary, jointly with Mr. Yiannis Hadjivasiliadis, Chairman of IENE.