The enormous annual expenses of oil and gas supplying forced Greece to explore its territory for the natural resources. The energy import costs the Greek taxpayers about €10-12 billion per year. Such oil companies as Energean Oil and Hellenic Petroleum are going to search for oil and gas in the western part of the country in order to refuse the services of foreign fuel providers. Two exploring projects will be carried out in Patras and Ioannina. "Today we have opened a new page for the Greek market. The expected benefits are many: an increase in government revenue, the creation of new jobs," Greece's Energy Minister Yannis Maniatis said in a statement. The Greeks have already drilled 200 wells that turned out useless. However, the authorities affirm that the drilling location were just wrong and expect that new projects will raise the state revenue by €11 billion in 25 years.
