Greece's eyes on the prize

Greece's drive to attract investment to the hydrocarbons sector is gathering momentum

Tourism and the oil industry can make strange bedfellows. But Greece wants to bring the two into close proximity, both in terms of location and economic benefits, as the government seeks to expedite oil and gas exploration to build on a fledgling recovery after the country's disastrous debt crisis. Some of its prospective hydrocarbons acreage lies adjacent to its most popular visitor destinations, notably in and around the Ionian Sea. A recent oil spill from a sunken tanker, which coated tourist beaches near Athens, was a reminder that development will need to be handled with care. But Greece needs all the investment it can get and doesn't want to rely exclusively on its dominant industry, t