ExxonMobil Vice President and Head of Global Exploration Dr John Ardill on Friday confirmed that exploratory drilling in Greece is scheduled to begin at the start of 2027, in a LinkedIn post following his meeting with Greece’s Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou.

“Strong, enduring partnerships between governments and investors are built over many years – through aligned objectives, mutual trust and consistently delivering on commitments.

“ExxonMobil and our partners, Energean and Hellenic Energy, are preparing to drill the first offshore exploration well in almost four decades offshore Greece.

“Earlier this year, we announced plans to drill this important deepwater well, and we are now moving quickly toward drilling early next year,” Ardill said in his post.

He then noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Papastavrou have been actively engaged throughout this journey, adding:

“We are bringing the full capabilities of ExxonMobil to help unlock Greece’s natural gas resources for the benefit of the country and the Greek people.

“We have steadfastly progressed our multi-year exploration investment programme despite significant headwinds, including the COVID-19 economic downturn and an evolving European energy and climate policy landscape.

“Our commitment remains clear: invest for the long term, deliver on our commitments, and develop new sources of natural gas at a time when Europe will need reliable domestic energy supplies.”