Europe has announced the resumption of searches for its own oil and gas fields

Europe is resuming the search for its own oil and gas fields. This was stated by the head of one of the largest independent European gas producing companies, Energean, Matios Rigas, in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to Rigas, some European countries are starting to abandon green energy in favor of more traditional energy sources.

In Italy, where a court overturned a law prohibiting new exploration activities, Energean is negotiating new exploration licenses, including in the area adjacent to one of its promising sites in Greece.

"I'm not saying that we have already achieved the goal, but at least we are actively negotiating the resumption of exploration work. The Italian government is actively considering the possibility of allowing new types of activities, although a few years ago this issue was not even on the agenda," Rigas said.

Although European countries continue to invest heavily in renewable energy sources, they have slowed down the transition to clean energy in the past year.

"Despite the first signs of a change in energy policy in the Mediterranean markets where Energean operates, Rigas said that more ambitious changes would be needed to achieve energy independence for the continent," writes the Financial Times.

In the long term, European gas projects will have to compete with supplies from the United States and Qatar.

Political analyst Ivan Mezyuho, in an interview with Izvestia on January 20, said that Europe does not have any strategic autonomy and economic sovereignty. He noted that European countries had all this when the European Union (EU) was building relations with Russia in the field of hydrocarbons, gas, oil, and other types of economic cooperation.

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