Greece, Cyprus and Israel will sign a memorandum of cooperation on energy issues at the end of this month, Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister George Papaconstantinou announced during a press conference on Monday.

He also announced plans for new tenders to conduct hydrocarbon surveys in 10-12 areas of mainland Greece in July, including Evros, Kavala, Serres, Thessaloniki, Grevena, Aitoloakarnania, Messinia, Achaia and possibly Crete.

The memorandum will refer to the possibility of linking up the electricity grids of the three countries and the prospects of cooperation in the transfer of natural gas that has been discovered or will be discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe via Greece, now that Greece has also begun searching for hydrocarbon fuels.

Papaconstantinou said that the situation emerging in Cyprus and Israel and the prospects for Greece were discussed during the last EU energy ministers' council since it creates the potential prospect of a third, alternative source of natural gas supplies for Europe, apart from Russia and the Caspian Sea.

The minister said that the response to a tender to conduct seismic surveys in the Ionian Sea and waters south of Crete, the deadline for which expired last Friday, had exceeded all expectations.

A total of eight bids were submitted and their evaluation will be completed over the coming month with a view to signing contracts in April.

The data from the seismic surveys is expected to be evaluated by the end of the year and tenders for concessions to carry out exploratory drilling in up to 15 fields are due to be held by the first months of 2013.

In the meantime, the ministry has already launched a tender for the start of exploratory drilling in three areas that have already been surveyed and shown to have hydrocarbons - in the Patras Gulf, Katakolo and Ioannina, which contain estimated reserves of 200, 80 and 3-4 million barrels, respectively. The deadline for bids expires in July.

Replying to questions, Papaconstantinou said that the government had agreed to extend the area covered by the contract with the company Energean, which currently exploits the Prinos oil fields in northern Greece, as well as the duration of the contract. He confirmed that Energean and the Italian company Edison will cooperate in conducting a study on creating an underground natural gas reservoir in one of the exhausted fields at Prinos.