ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece is working hard to finalise a contract with U.S. oil major Chevron ( CVX ) and its Greek partner Helleniq Energy for energy exploration offshore Greece by the end of the year, the country's energy minister said on Friday.

Chevron ( CVX ) and Greece's biggest oil refiner Helleniq submitted a joint bid in a Greek tender this year to look for gas in four deep-sea blocks off the Peloponnese peninsula and the island of Crete.

"We are working intensively with the U.S. company and Helleniq Energy to meet the timetables and conclude the contract within 2025," Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou told Greek television Action24.

Greece, which produces very small volumes of oil and relies on hefty gas imports for power generation and domestic consumption, has been keen to explore for gas and bolster its role as a gas transit route as part of a European Union push to move away from Russian energy after Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Once the contract with Chevron ( CVX ) is finalised, it needs approval from a Greek court of auditors and the parliament before the company can start seismic research in 2026 and it has up to five years to locate potential recoverable deposits, Papastavrou said.

Any eventual test drilling would not come before the 2030-2032 period, he added.