Athens, Greece, March 26, 2025 — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis swiftly welcomed Wednesday’s news that U.S. energy titan Chevron is eyeing hydrocarbon exploration in two maritime blocks just south of Crete, Greece’s sprawling southern island.
Addressing a Cabinet meeting in Athens, Mitsotakis lauded Chevron’s interest as a “strong affirmation of Greece’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)” in the region. The company, already engaged in offshore exploration southwest of mainland Greece with a consortium, now expands its focus to Crete’s waters.
Athens views this as a counterblow to the contentious Turkey-Libya maritime pact, which Greece deems unlawful. That agreement, struck by Ankara with Tripoli’s interim government during Libya’s civil unrest, ignored Greek territory—including Crete, the Mediterranean’s fifth-largest island—to redraw maritime boundaries, flouting international norms in what Greece calls “Turkography.” Mitsotakis highlighted that Libya’s current administration, by contrast, recently auctioned its own EEZ blocks using the Crete-Libya midline, aligning with Greece’s stance.
ExxonMobil, another major player, is also active southwest of Crete and the Peloponnese, with pilot drilling potentially starting this year. Chevron’s move reinforces Greece’s efforts to assert its maritime rights and unlock its energy potential, a development Mitsotakis framed as both strategic and symbolic.