Greece expects to earn $15 billion in revenue over the next 10 years from existing oil and natural gas reserves, Deputy Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis said.

“What we know today about potential hydrocarbon reserves in Greece is little,” Maniatis said today in an interview televised live on private Mega TV. The potential revenue isn’t included in Greece’s loan agreement with international creditors, Maniatis said.

Greece is trying to learn from the example of Cyprus, which recently discovered natural gas reserves, and the two countries are working closely to see how they can combine their hydrocarbon exploration efforts, Maniatis said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tugwell in Athens at ptugwell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net