The way is opened for the ratification by the Parliament and the activation of the contracts regarding hydrocarbon prospecting in the regions of Aitoloakarnania and of Northwestern Peloponnese, as the ministry of Environment and Energy approved last Thursday the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of the prospecting in the two regions.
For NW Peloponnese, Hellenic Petroleum has been declared as “selected applicant”, as has been Energean for Aitoloakarnania (Hellenic Petroleum has been declared as “selected applicant” for the Arta-Preveza region also that has been included in the same tender and for which Energean had also submitted a tender file). After the approval by the ministry, the control of the contract by the Court of Auditors is expected to proceed.
The area which is under concession in NW Peloponnese is of 3,778.3 square kilometers and includes parts of the Regional Units of Achaia, Arcadia and Ilia, while in Aitoloakarnania the respective area is 4,360.3 square kilometers, mainly in the Regional Unit of Aitoloakarnania and partly in the one of Evritania.
The approval decisions include a series of measures for the protection of the environment in the aforementioned areas. For example, it is provided to maintain a protection zone of 350 meters from the coastline and 300 meters from each side of the basic hydrographic network of the area in SW Peloponnese (500 meters in Aitoloakarnania) within which it will not be allowed to site drillings for research, development and production, or processing or storage facilities, while the passing through of pipelines must also be minimized. Furthermore, there are protection measures for the areas that are visited by wild endemic and migratory fauna species, and it is also provided that the research and prospecting works are avoided in tourist coastal areas during summer.
Source: ANA-MPA, March 05, 2017
