The earliest attempt to find oil in Greece was at the island of Zakynthos, western Greece, in 1865. But the most interesting story is perhaps the one that developed in Epirus between 1910 and 1940, mainly because of its connection with the career of the first Greek petroleum geologist.
The evidence of the existence of hydrocarbons in the valley of the Molitsa River in Epirus, near Dragopsa village, had been known since Epirus was part of the Ottoman Empire. The issue had been brought to the attention of the Ottoman administration by N. Vasilakis, a doctor based in Ioannina and interpreter for the Romanian consulate there. Vasilakis had come into contact with local knowledge of the subsoil when a patient of his, to whom he had just prescribed rubbing alcohol, asked him if he could alternatively use “the oil that comes from her village” for the rubbing.
The doctor acted immediately. In 1910, he submitted a request to the Ottoman Ministry of Forests and Mines for the concession of the exploitation of the Dragopsa deposits. In 1911, his contacts with Romania and its petroleum know-how brought the director of the Geological Institute of Romania, Ludovic Mrazek, and his student, Constantin Niculescu. The two geologists considered the area promising and took advantage of the breaks between the successive wars of the following years to continue their field studies.
The process was completed immediately after the end of World War I, and the area had now passed into Greek hands. A Greek-French “petroleum syndicate” was founded in 1919 with its main financing coming from French banks. The general management was taken over by Alfred Pouyanne, a mineralogist, former colonel of the French Army and early wartime explorer of Dragopsa. Pouyanne exuded optimism; already in December 1919, “given the results we expect to obtain,” he requested from the Greek government permission to build an oil refinery in Piraeus, as well as the exclusive rights to refine oil within Greek territory for the next 30 years.
The Greek government did not share Pouyanne’s optimism. The bureaus of the Ministry of National Economy deemed the syndicate’s exploration attempts to be “uncertain” and concluded that the syndicate was in fact trying “to secure an oil refinement privilege in advance.” They judged any agreement to be “premature.”
Obviously, the bureaus of the Ministry of National Economy were much less naive than Pouyanne thought them to be. They were also newly founded; the first Inspector Geologist of the Ministry of National Economy, Georgios Georgalas, was appointed in December 1918. He had just turned 30 and would associate his name with the issue of Greek oil exploration for the next 20 years.
‘New lands,’ new field
The newly appointed inspector geologist had strong motives for getting involved in the developments at Dragopsa. On the one hand, it was about oil; the recent wartime applications of the internal combustion engine had transformed oil from an efficient light source chiefly used in lamps to an asset of increasingly strategic importance. On the other hand, it was about the “new lands”; the geologist who would manage to provide useful knowledge about the doubled territory would prove the – not at all widely accepted at the time – practical value of his science and would offer an important national service, with obvious individual benefits. The problem, of course, was that neither Georgalas nor any other Greek geologist had until then delved into the geology of oil.
Fortunately, a suitable teacher soon appeared. In August 1920, Niculescu returned to Dragopsa, leading 25 Romanian drillers, and began exploratory drilling. Georgalas, as the intermediary par excellence between the Franco-Greek Petroleum Syndicate and the Ministry of National Economy, had access not only to Niculescu’s reports, but also to him. Indeed, in the autumn of 1920, it took the two young geologists six hours riding donkeys to cover “about 16 kilometers of a straight line” that separated Ioannina from Dragopsa. There was ample time for the development of friendly relations.
Between 1920 and 1922, Georgalas demonstrated his new expertise in a multitude of publications on Greek petroleum.
The burning question, “Is there oil in Greece?” was posed directly, and immediately divided into two parts. The first part concerned the existence of “underground oil deposits” and resulted in an enthusiastic affirmation. The geological similarities with the “hydrocarbon zone of the Carpathians” proved that the “hydrocarbon zone of Western Greece” according to Georgalas was indeed worthy of its name. The second part of the question concerned the economic viability of the deposits. Here, petroleum geology was mobilized for an ambiguous final conclusion: “estimation is difficult.”
It was rhetoric that combined enthusiasm with prudence and ensured scientific prestige in the event of failure. In the following years, the inspector geologist would learn to mobilize it more and more effectively.
For investors in Belgium
In February 1922, the Franco-Greek Petroleum Syndicate abandoned the promising Dragopsa deposits. The reasons for this decision remain unknown but they were likely related to geopolitical considerations, as the Greco-Turkish war in Asia Minor was as good as lost, and France was increasingly supportive of Turkey. In August 1922, Georgalas traveled to Belgium, seeking investors again at the 13th International Geological Congress. His presentation modestly concluded that certain “interesting future [oil] applications in Epirus” were, in any case, “not impossible.” The Greek expeditionary force in Asia Minor collapsed a few days later.
Oil exploration had become a low-priority undertaking. In 1923 Georgalas submitted his next oil proposal, not for the well-studied Dragopsas deposits, but for Tavri (formerly Teke), near Alexandroupoli. Despite the rejection of the proposal, Georgalas prevailed in complicated disputes and in 1925 was finally appointed director of the unified Greek Geological Survey. By then he had been recognized as the preeminent Greek oil expert, responsible for every calm refutation of the oil “discoveries” that occasionally graced the news.
The next peak of Greek oil activities coincided with the imposition of a dictatorship by Ioannis Metaxas. The proposal for Tavri was revived. Now, its reasoning could be exposed in the daily press. As the newspaper “Oikonomologos Athinon” of August 15, 1936, explained, an oil discovery in Thrace would lead to a conflict between oil majors such as “Dutch Royal, the Anglo-Persian Company, and Standard [Oil Company of New York] Socony Corporation.” Of these, the first represents the British state and the second the American state, which were the “actual” entities “antagonizing for supremacy over Greece.” The explorations in Thrace would tie the interests of the Great Powers to a key point in Greek territory. They were more important than a simple discovery of oil would suggest.
The source of this article and others were, in all probability, Georgalas. His old exploration proposals were resurfacing and he was mentioned by name. Even the titles of the articles were derived by copying the rhetorical question of 1922: “Is there oil in Greece?” As he approached 50 years of age, the director of the Geological Survey remained unaffected by political changes, demonstrating knowledge of petroleum geology, awareness of its political aspects, and the rhetorical flexibility required to combine the two. He had transformed into a public intellectual.
In January 1937, Georgalas was appointed full professor of Mineralogy and Petrology of the University of Athens. His inaugural lecture evolved into a brilliant ceremony, with an “esteemed audience” and the presence of “his Majesty the Crown Prince.” The conclusion that [Greece] “certainly possessed oil deposits, although of unknown quantity and synthesis” was accepted “with vigorous and extended applause.” The title of the lecture was seemingly simple. And yet, it summarized 20 years of relevant experience: “Is There Oil in Greece?”
Myths and truths
Of all the myths that accompany Greek oil exploration, the most persistent are those that want the Greek state to be wasting time and lagging behind, a prisoner of interests and superior forces. On the contrary, recent historical research by the Institute of Mediterranean Studies – FORTH concludes that Greek oil exploration was carried out as soon as material possibilities and historical circumstances allowed it to be carried out, usually in periods of heightened international competition.
Subsequently, the results of these explorations, or their absence, became the subject of negotiation at a complex crossroads between individual, corporate and state interests. These are precisely the characteristics that are also found in the international history of oil exploration.
Georgalas lived at this complex crossroads until even his own respectable reserves of political flexibility were exhausted. During the German Occupation he joined the leftist National Liberation Front (EAM), served as president of its youth wing, EPON and a member of the Political Committee of National Liberation, commonly known as the “Mountain Government.” After the war, these activities would cost him his university chair.
As for oil exploration in Epirus, it has been attempted for over a century without tangible results. The most recent relevant activity took place in 2022. As Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted at the time, “we must know for sure whether there are reserves that are economically exploitable. We will know by the end of 2023,” as Kathimerini reported. This cautious approach did not prevent the then Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas from saying that “the value of the deposit” is estimated at “€5 billion.”
Exactly 100 years had passed since the first Greek oil geologist had learned to separate what we know from what we know that we do not know. His rhetoric still protects the cautious.
Gelina Harlaftis is a Professor of Maritime History at the University of Crete, Director of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies – FORTH.
This text is based on the research program “Searching for oil in the Greek territory 1920-1980”, which was conducted at IMS-FORTH during 2020-2021 by Dr Christos Karampatsos and a scientific team, with Gelina Harlaftis as academic advisor.