A very important visit took place at Energean’s facilities in the Gulf of Kavala, where Greece’s only oil production operation is located and where, through EnEarth, a major carbon (CO2) storage project is being developed in Prinos.
Specifically, Energean’s CEO and Country Manager for Greece, Dr. Katerina Sardi, along with company executives, welcomed Jennifer Miskimins, President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (Society of Petroleum Engineers – SPE), who was accompanied by the Rector of Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Mr. Fotios Maris, and DUTH Professor and President of SPE Greece, Mr. Nikolaos Kokkinos, as well as their colleagues.
The distinguished guests were briefed on the operations of the Prinos complex and Energean’s activities in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean more broadly, as well as on the progress of the CO2 storage project at Prinos.
Mr. Vasilis Tsetoglou, Director of the Prinos Complex and Director of Health, Safety, and Environment for the Energean Group, stated:
“It is a great pleasure and honor to welcome to the Prinos facilities SPE Global President Ms. Jennifer Miskimins, the Rector of the Democritus University of Thrace, Mr. Fotios Maris; the professor at the Democritus University of Thrace and President of SPE Greece, Mr. Nikolaos Kokkinos; and their distinguished colleagues.
This visit comes at a historic moment for Prinos, which is gradually transforming from Greece’s sole oil field into the only CO2 storage site in the southeastern Mediterranean so that, following the role it played in energy security, it can play a decisive role in the transition toward the decarbonization of our industry and in the effort to mitigate the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Our collaboration over the years with both the SPE and the Democritus University has contributed greatly to ensuring that oil and natural gas from the Kavala Gulf deposits are produced with absolute safety and in complete harmony with the environment, tourism, fisheries, and, more broadly, all human activities, oil and natural gas from the deposits in the Gulf of Kavala.
At the same time, unique expertise has been developed, along with a pioneering educational program and a significant source of employment and development for local communities. We are absolutely certain that Prinos’s new era will continue to embody these characteristics, further enhancing the geopolitical position of Kavala and, more broadly, of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.”
Prinos Now Best Suited for CO2 Storage
SPE President and Colorado School of Mines professor Jennifer Miskimins stated:
“The facilities at Prinos are amazing, and this visit was truly a great opportunity for me. As President of the SPE, I visit facilities all over the world, and it was an honor for me to be invited to visit Prinos.
The CO2 storage project underway in Prinos is a very common technique used around the world, contributes to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change, and I see this as an excellent opportunity to utilize a site that is ideally suited for this purpose. “There is an impermeable rock layer at the top of the storage site that is very compact from a geomechanical standpoint, and there are no safety concerns.”
Mr. Nikolaos Kokkinos, Professor of Chemistry at the Democritus University of Thrace and President of SPE in Greece, stated:
“It is a great honor and pleasure to welcome the President of the SPE to our city and to the Petroleum Institute of the Democritus University of Thrace, which is based in Kavala. This visit takes place within the framework of the collaboration between the Institute of Petroleum and the International Master’s Program on ‘Industrial Catalysis and Sustainable Energy’ with the SPE.
We need partners like this, who support our university’s internationalization programs. The SPE’s branch office for all of Greece is located in Kavala. Furthermore, the SPE provides our students with access to prestigious scientific databases and gives them the opportunity to present their industry-relevant research at international conferences and workshops around the world.
We thank the SPE for this ongoing collaboration and for this visit, which comes at a particularly important time, as we are preparing a new, five-year foreign-language undergraduate program in Petroleum Engineering, jointly organized by the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Civil Engineering at Democritus University of Thrace. SPE’s contribution to this effort is very significant. We extend our warmest thanks to Professor Miskimins and look forward to expanding our collaboration both in our region and through new initiatives, such as the partnership that has been established between the Democritus University of Thrace and Cairo University.”
The tour of the facilities concluded with a boat trip to the offshore platforms at Prinos, where oil has been produced for the past 45 years.