And while oil experts have said the chances of finding black gold in the Alentejo stand at less than 20 percent, Galp seems to fancy its odds and has said it will start exploring this summer, in high seas, some 80 kilometres off the coast of Sines.
According to newspaper Correio da Manhã the search for a suspected reservoir, holding enough crude to make it worth-while exploring, will take place over a few months, just long enough to drill the hole.
Investment in the project is reportedly of over €100 million.
In related news, Galp is set to invest around one billion euros by 2020 in Brazil and Mozambique.
Earlier this year, the National Authority for the Fuel Market (ENMC) staged a meeting in the Algarve where it said oil prospecting posed no risks and that the country’s economy could benefit should it find an abundance of natural mineral resources.
ENMC chief Paulo Carmona said: “It is necessary to do away with pre-conceived ideas.
“There isn’t a country that has discovered energy resources and that hasn’t explored them, and of course we must be careful with the environmental aspects”, he added.
The head of the ENMC insisted that in this current phase of prospecting and exploration, there are no environmental risks.
Only if oil or natural gas was to be found and proceedings moved on to a phase of exploration, would it be necessary to carry out a public consultation and study environmental impact, he explained.
“Portugal is not a rich country and we want to develop our natural resources in a sustainable manner;” Paul Carmona stressed, backed by several representatives of exploration companies who guaranteed that “very strict” European environmental standards are being met.