Dr. Andritsos Fivos Official of the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC) since 1986
Areas of expertise: systems engineering, safety & security, remote handling & intervention, emergency management, pollution prevention & containment in the maritime, energy, transport and nuclear fields.
Prior employment: research assistant, associate and lecturer at the mechanical engineering dept. of the university of Patras, Greece; guest research associate at the mechanical engineering dept., university of Newcastle upon Tyne, England; associate professor at the technological education institute of Patras, Greece; 301 base military industry of the Hellenic army; mixed quality control group by the Hellenic Arms industry, Hellenic Defence ministry, Aeghion, Grece; technical services of PIRELLI, Patras, Greece.
Author or co-author of more than 140 scientific publications; inventor in 4 patents
Several successful cooperative projects, like ROTIS, ROTIS 2, LOCCATEC, DIFIS and ASPIS
Several successful projects in support of the Commission policies, like: AIPS, TAPS and TAPS 2 (policies on shipbuilding and port/maritime security)
The Mediterranean Sea is a vital maritime supply route, particularly in what concerns Europe’s energy supply. The recent exploratory offshore drillings, first signs of wider oil & gas exploitation plans in east Mediterranean, combined with the expected increased dependence on seaborne trade will increase risks and environmental pressure in an area already stressed, environmentally and socially. In this context, a sustainable use of the Mediterranean will require new tools and methods for managing the new resources, their transport and distribution and the associated risks.
The ever increasing use of natural gas will also have strong impact on maritime transport through the Mediterranean. LNG transport, despite the bottleneck of the LNG shore installation, will continue growing. Inevitably, small LNG and CNG carriers must be developed, preferably making use of standardized modular subsystems.
The present paper outlines future scenarios and elaborates on potential contributions for a sustainable exploitation and transport of oil & gas through the Mediterranean Sea.