Nikolas Rigas, Head of EnEarth Carbon Storage, spoke at the 4th East Macedonia & Thrace Forum, which took place in Alexandroupoli on March 19–20. He participated in a panel with key stakeholders, discussing strategic investments that bring sustainable development to the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
Nikolas provided an update on the latest developments of EnEarth’s flagship project, Prinos CO₂, emphasizing that it is the first project in Southern Europe to receive a storage permit. He added, however, that the technology has been used for decades in the United States and in Europe — it is simply its use for storage in Greece that is new. “There are no safety issues, especially if we consider that we are talking about storing CO₂ at a depth of 3,000 meters below the seabed, beneath a reservoir that has demonstrably held hydrocarbons for millions of years without leaks,” Nikolas stressed.
He went on to say that, given global warming, and the rising cost of emissions for industry, there are theoretically three options:
do nothing, allowing CO₂ to escape into the atmosphere and burdening hard-to-abate industries with enormous costs, eventually forcing it to shut down with obvious socioeconomic consequences;
plant half of mainland Greece with trees and wait for years for industrial CO₂ to be absorbed from the atmosphere; or
move quickly and effectively with CO₂ storage, as advanced European countries are already doing.
“Let me remind you that 15 years ago, the Energean Group had submitted a proposal to create an underground natural gas storage facility in South Kavala, which never moved forward. I think we all understand the scale of the opportunity that was lost and how much better off we would be today if that storage facility were in operation,” he noted.
Nikolas concluded: “With Prinos CO₂, we support the competitiveness of our industry and help it decarbonize and ‘green’ its products. We are creating a green hub in Northern Greece, and we are also giving new life to Greece’s offshore industry, as we will install — for the first time in nearly half a century — a new platform at Prinos, the Omicron platform, from which the drilling operations will be carried out. This major investment of more than €1 billion over the coming years will continue to provide jobs and development for local communities.”
