Exxon, Total get license to explore off Crete

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (c back), US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt (r back), French Ambassador Christophe Chantepy (l back), Hellenic Hydrocarbon Resources Management President Yannis Bassias (l front), Hellenic Petroleum General Manager George Alexopoulos (2nd l front), Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis (3rd l front), Total Group’s Vice President for the Caspian & Southern Europe Bernard Clement (4th l front) and ExxonMobil International Ltd’s Jonathan Wilson (r front) in Athens on Thursday at the signing of an agreement for ExxonMobil and Total to search for hydrocarbons off the southern Aegean island of Crete. [Orestes Panagiotou/EPA]