Greece, Total-led Venture to Sign Offshore Gas Deal Friday
Greece and a consortium led by France's Total will sign a deal on Friday for deep sea gas exploration in one block in western Greece, an energy ministry official said on Thursday.
In October, Greece named a consortium of Total, Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum, and Italy's Edison as the preferred bidder for the offshore gas drilling block in the Ionian Sea.
The Total-led consortium has bid for one block in the Ionian. Hellenic Petroleum has bid independently for two other blocks in the same region.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said talks with Hellenic Petroleum for those blocks would begin in the immediate future.
(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris)
