23921 - The Zohr type targets in Eratosthenes and South of Crete

E, Conophagos, N. Lygeros, A. Foskolos
Translated from the Greek by Athena Kehagias

After the discovery of the Cypriot Zohr type (limestone reef), target reserve, in the Cypriot marine plot 11, we’ve searched at the existing geophysical data in the region, to see whether other Zohr type targets have been identified.
In the recent past we had indicated that the presence of giant hydrocarbon reserves of this type, occurs only if paleogeographically there were actually lagoons in the region.
It is already known that around Eratosthenes there were lagoons, on the shores of which karstic limestone reefs were created with an extremely high secondary porosity (see. Fig.1).

The shape of the reef around Eratosthenis appears schematically in Fig.2.

We came to the conclusion that, that form of the reefs is confirmed by the existing seismic recordings in the marine region around Eratosthenes (Figure 3).

What’s impressive in the above case, is that there are multiple gigantic Zohr type natural gas target reserves, which have been identified in Cyprus’s wider region, which -in the case that future drillings actually prove the existence of natural gas- then, that factor could totally transform Cyprus’s geo-economy.
Our research has already identified similar potentials re: the existence of Zohr type reserves South of Crete as well.
The fact of the presence of reefal limestones of the Miocene period within the Greek EEZ, has been already confirmed by the studies of the C.N.R.S. and I.F.P. of France.
These studies concluded (Figure 4), that the Mediterranean, but especially so, the region South of Crete and Southern Cyprus, obtain the largest number of limestone reefs of the Late Miocene period worldwidely.