The proclamation of a competition for offshore hydrocarbon exploration will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union by the end of April, following an expression of interest by the U.S. company Chevron for areas south of Crete, Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou said on Thursday at the Delphi Economic Forum X. In addition to presenting a timeline of planned actions relating to hydrocarbon exploration, the minister also commented on the Greece-Cyprus submarine power cable.

Papastavrou said that the first of the ministerial decision envisaged with respect to Chevron's expression of interest was signed last week, the second will be signed on Friday and this will be followed by publication in the EU Journal so that any interest is expressed by the end of August and a contract can be ratified by Parliament before the end of the year.

He clarified that the region south of Crete is entirely unrelated to any illegal Turkish claims and that there is no basis for Turkiye to object, adding that Chevron's expression of interest was made in the wake of careful geological and geopolitical calculations.

Regarding the electricity interconnector between Greece and Cyprus, he said it was a critical project with many parameters that do not permit a public discussion, which might prove damaging. He stressed the need for careful planning while expressing optimism about the progress of the project.

This optimism was echoed by Cyprus' Energy, Commerce and Industry Minister George Papanastasiou, who noted that it was the largest of the EU projects of common interest relating to energy, which was getting 657 million euros in European funds. He said he was confident that "diplomacy will prevail" as regards the geopolitical risk, adding that he expected the EU to support the project through actions.

Bulgaria's Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov, on his part, spoke of the need to further reinforce energy interconnections in Southeastern Europe, for reasons of energy security and to contain prices.