May 29, 2026 [Oil Price]- Chevron has filed a request to buy 70% in an oil and gas exploration block offshore southwest Greece in what would be another step in the U.S. supermajor’s expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Chevron wants to buy 70% in an exploration block, whose concession rights are currently 100% owned by Helleniq Energy, the Greek Energy Ministry said on Thursday.

The U.S. energy giant and Helleniq Energy are partners in several other offshore exploration blocks that Greece has recently awarded. Now Chevron seeks to expand its footprint and become operator of an additional block.

“Chevron’s decision to participate in yet another offshore area of out country together with Helleniq Energy is a significant milestone in the national effort to develop the oil and gas sector,” Greece’s Minister of Energy and Environment, Stavros Papastavrou, said in the ministry’s statement.

“Greece is constantly strengthening its position on the energy map of the Eastern Mediterranean,” the minister added.

Earlier this year, the Chevron-led consortium with Helleniq Energy signed the lease contracts for oil and gas exploration offshore Greece as the southern European country aims to become a major gas supplier in the Mediterranean.

The Chevron-Helleniq Energy partnership in February signed the lease agreements with Greece concerning the exploration of four offshore blocks south of Crete and the Peloponnese. The four offshore blocks – South Crete 1, South Crete 2, South of Peloponnese, and Block A2 – cover a total area of approximately 47,000 square kilometers, or 18,147 square miles.

Under the terms of the lease deals, the Chevron-Helleniq joint venture will undertake a three-phase exploration program to help assess the hydrocarbon potential of the areas.

With the signing of the lease agreements, Chevron joins the other U.S. supermajor, ExxonMobil, in gaining access to exploration access offshore Greece.

In November 2025, ExxonMobil expanded its exploration portfolio offshore Greece with a new farm-in agreement for a block in the northwestern Ionian Sea.