Struggling to get out from under a $430 billlion debt and crushing economic crisis, the answer to Greece’s financial problems says the answer might be under the sea around Crete where the German Deutsche Bank said there could be as much as $558.3 billion in natural gas reserves.
The economic news website Capital.gr reported that the German bank has compiled the information and that the reserves are hidden Mediterranen Basin south of the island where geologists said the amounts are as rich as the Levantine Basin between Cyprus and Israel.
The Greek government has commissioned preliminary seismology studies, geologists say. If natural resource reserves prove to exist, it could bolster revenues and cut down the debt, but it was cautioned that the amount is unknown until further studies.
The first step is seeing what kind of interest there is from companies willing to work the area. A year ago scientific research indicated that the sea area south of Crete holds a wealth of natural gas capable of solving the economic problems of Greece. That assessment came from professor emeritus Antonis Foskolos of the Department of Mineral Resources and Engineering of the Technical University of Crete, and emeritus researcher at the Geological Survey of Canada.
According to Foskolos, the exploitation of these deposits would create at least 100,000 jobs in the primary sector and 200,000 jobs in the secondary sector, while all revenue to be reaped by the Greek state in 25 years amounts to at least $437 billion, not counting profits from transporting gas to Europe, which could bring at least another $25 billion.
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