Greece's DEPA to sell stake in gas supplier to Eni - REUTERS

MAY 16, 2018 / 5:51 PM

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece’s biggest gas company DEPA said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its holding in a local gas supplier to Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) for 57 million euros ($67 million).

Under the agreement, state-controlled DEPA will sell its 51 percent stake in Thessaloniki-Thessaly Gas. Eni already holds a 49 percent stake in that company.

Under a bailout-sanctioned scheme to unbundle gas supply from distribution and boost competition in the industry, Greece needs to eliminate potential conflicts of interest between DEPA and domestic gas suppliers.

DEPA will stay in the broader Athens region but will pull out of the rest of Greece.

DEPA is also in talks to buy out Shell’s (RDSa.L) 49 percent stake in another gas supplier, Attiki Gas Supply Company, and a gas distributor in Athens and become the sole stakeholder in the two companies, sources close to the matter told Reuters.

One of the sources said the deal could be worth about 150 million euros.

Turkey and the new Mediterranean gas pipe projects - DERIN EKONOMI MAGAZINE / YENI SAFAK

June 08, 2017 12:15  
Robert M. Cutler

In early April of 2017, the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and Italy signed a Joint Declaration to reaffirm their support for the swift implementation of the EastMed/CrossMed natural gas pipeline project. European Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete attended the ministerial summit. (This "CrossMed" pipeline project should not be confused with the existing TransMed natural gas pipeline, which takes Algerian gas to the Italian mainland, via Tunisia and Sicily, and Slovenia via an extension.)

The EastMed natural gas pipeline project was originally conceived as a shorter pipeline from Cyprus to western Greece via Crete. The EU considers it as a Southern Gas Corridor project.

There is now an expanded project to extend it on both ends, eastward to Israeli offshore sources and westward under the Ionian Sea to Italy. This is this CrossMed pipeline, although sometimes "EastMed" is still confusingly used for it.

US envoy hails EU-backed Balkan, East Med regional diversification projects, slams Russia’s Nord Stream-2 - NEW EUROPE

MAY 19, 2017 21:12 
Kostis Geropoulos

ATHENS – Several key energy projects currently underway in Greece will bring significant quantities of non-Russian gas to Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, and other regional partners, lessening the bloc’s reliance on Gazprom, US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt told a conference in Athens.

He was referring to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB), and the expansion of the liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) Revithoussa. “While the volumes involved are not enough to satisfy European gas demand, the introduction of new pipeline gas improves the market dynamic, encouraging competition, which will benefit everyone,” Pyatt said in remarks at Hellenic Association for Energy Economics (HAEE) Conference.

ANALYSIS: Italian gas supply sources shift in Q2, Russia now dominates - PLATTS

London (Platts)--7 Apr 2017 909 am EDT/1309 GMTStuart Elliott, edited by Alisdair Bowles
Since the start of the second quarter, gas flow dynamics around Europe have shifted -- both by route, source and destination -- pointing to continued supply flexibility in the European gas market.

Italy is often a good gauge of whether supply contracts are competitive versus each other and versus the northwest European hubs at any particular time, with Russian gas seemingly the most attractive since the start of Q2.

Italian buyers have import contracts with Russia's Gazprom and Algeria's Sonatrach, but can also import gas from the northwest European hubs, giving them options when long-term contract prices diverge from hub prices.

TAP gas pipeline can gauge customer interest in capacity: executives - REUTERS

Wed Feb 1, 2017 | 11:26am EST

Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Karolina Tagaris. Editing by Jane Merriman

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that will take gas from Azerbaijan to Europe is in a position to offer capacity on the line via so-called "open seasons" to gauge interest among potential customers, senior TAP executives said on Wednesday.

The 870-km (540-mile) pipeline will link Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II field with Italy, crossing through Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea. It is the largest attempt so far to bring new supply sources to European consumers.

Around 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year of Azeri gas should reach Europe by 2020 through TAP as well as the South Caucasus Pipeline through Georgia and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) through Turkey.

"We have prepared the ground for 200 kilometers out of a total of 550 kilometers that the Greek section will run," Rikard Scoufias, TAP's country manager for Greece, said on the sidelines of an energy forum in Athens. "We are on track."

TAP can offer capacity via "open seasons" in line with European legislation, its commercial and external affairs director Ulrike Andres said.

EastMed pipeline commercially viable - CYPRUS MAIL / CNA

January 25, 2017

EastMed pipeline is commercially viable and technically feasible, according to a study presented in Brussels to the EU Directorate-General for Energy and the director generals of the Ministries of Energy of Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Italy.

According to the study conducted by EDISON, the estimated cost of EastMed is 6 billion dollars.

Relevant sources told CNA that after the presentation of the study, there was a discussion between the delegations of the four countries with the European Commission, in order to prepare the meeting of the Energy Ministers of the four countries and the EU Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, scheduled for next May in Israel.

Russia’s belated Greek gambit - INTERFAX

Greece’s Alexis Tsipras, centre, and Russia’s Arkady Dvorkovich
at the trade fair in Thessaloniki. (PA)

By Paul Sampson 20 September 2016 12:03 GMT

Now that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project is back on the agenda, Russia is making a push for a new "southern corridor" that would see its gas pumped across Greece to the Balkans and Central Europe.

During a visit to the Greek port town of Thessaloniki on 10 September to attend an international trade fair, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich pitched the idea of a new east-west pipeline network with Greece at its epicentre.

Russia’s master plan is to revive the Interconnector-Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) project, devised in 2005 by Italy’s Edison – now a subsidiary of France’s EDF – and Greek state importer DEPA as a way of transporting gas from the Caspian to Italy.

Greece Backs Implementation of Southern Gas Corridor Project - Russian Minister - SPUTNIK NEWS

10.09.2016

Greece supports the implementation and development of the Southern Gas Corridor project, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday, after the talks with Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Panagiotis Skourletis.

THESSALONIKI (Sputnik) — The Southern Gas Corridor is expected to extend to over 2,000 miles, carrying natural gas from the Caspian Sea across Azerbaijan and Georgia into Turkey and on through Greece and Albania into southern Italy. The project is backed by the United States and the European Commission, and is considered by them as a competitor to the Turkish Stream project.

Energy to top the agenda during Russian president’s Athens visit - KATHIMERINI

03.05.2016
CHRYSSA LIAGGOU

Russian President Vladimir Putin is arriving in Greece on May 28, with the main subject topping his agenda being the promotion of a new conduit for the transmission of Russian natural gas via Bulgaria and Greece, including the utilization of the plan for the Interconnector Greece-Italy (IGI) pipeline.

The Russian president’s energy agenda also includes the revival of Russian companies’s interest in the privatizations of the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) and Hellenic Petroleum, should they go ahead, as well as Russian electricity companies’ joint ventures with Public Power Corporation (PPC). The Russian interest in Thessaloniki Port Authority and Trainose will also be reassessed.

Gazprom, DEPA and Edison sign Memorandum of Understanding - GAZPROM

Alexey Miller, Marc Benayoun and Theodoros Kitsakos

February 24, 2016

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Marc Benayoun, CEO of Edison SpA, and Theodoros Kitsakos, CEO of DEPA SA, signed today the Memorandum of Understanding on natural gas deliveries across the Black Sea from Russia via third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy in order to establish a southern route to deliver Russian natural gas to Europe.

The signing ceremony took place after the meeting held today in Rome between Alexey Miller and Federica Guidi, Italian Minister of Economic Development. The ceremony was attended by Giorgos Tsipras, Greek Foreign Ministry's Secretary General for International Economic Relations.

EU Includes Greek Energy Projects on List of ‘Common Interest’ | Greek Reporter

EU Includes Greek Energy Projects on List of ‘Common Interest’

By A. Makris - 

Nov 19, 2015

The European Commission announced on Wednesday a list of key energy infrastructure projects (Projects of Common Interest, PCI) in Greece and around the EU whose completion is considered important for the development of the bloc’s energy market and the diversification of its energy sources and transport routes.

Among them are the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP); the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB); the Poseidon pipeline (Interconnection Turkey Greece Italy “ITGI”); the East Med pipeline; an LNG station to be developed by Greece’s DEPA Company and GasTrade in Alexandroupolis city; a new compressor station for the nationwide transmission system of the DESFA Company; and the Tesla Pipeline.
(source: ana-mpa)
Source: http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/11/19/eu-includes-greek-energy-projects-on-list-of-common-interest/

The Interconnector Greece-Italy Is Back On Track - But For How Long? | Natural Gas Europe

November 18th, 2015

THE INTERCONNECTOR GREECE-ITALY IS BACK ON TRACK - BUT FOR HOW LONG?

At this stage, it's fair to say that the Interconnector Greece-Italy (ITGI) is an old project. First conceived around a decade ago, the pipeline project has at several points in its history been coupled with the foregone South Stream project as a likely spur towards Italy from Greece. Then the emergence of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline  (TAP), which opted for its own direct route to Italy via Albania, put a temporary end to ITGI plans. ITGI has since been revived, mainly due to the possible introduction of the Turkish Stream pipeline project.

The CEO of DEPA, Spyros Paleogiannis, remarked at the 20th national energy conference in Athens--organized by the IENE Institute--that Turkish Stream means it's game on for ITGI, a pipeline with a mature plan and studies already conducted for its viability. The main problem so far for this pipeline has been the lack of substantial sources of gas. That is an issue that could be solved via the introduction of the Turkish Stream, Paleogiannis noted.

DEPA has also drafted bold plans to link ITGI with future gas deliveries from Iran and from the East Med. project that aims to deliver Israeli and Cypriot gas reserves to Europe.

Concurrently, Greek media outlet Energy Press revealed that Gazprom's president, Alexey Miller, met with his counterpart from Italy's Edison, Bruno Lescoeur, to discuss possible routes to transfer Russian gas via the Balkans.

Despite that news, a well-placed source in the energy private gas sector in Athens informs Natural Gas Europe that the probability of sending Russian gas to Southern Italy, even if Turkish Stream is constructed, are slim. According to the source, the Russian political elite has placed heavy political capital on establishing the central Balkan route, also known as the Tesla pipeline, and it is economically not feasible to have another spur into Italy, unless Edison and other companies are willing to bind themselves into long-term contracting via this route.

Furthermore, while speaking at the same conference, Dimitris Mardas, the deputy Greek foreign minister added that Athens is fully backing TAP, but also East Med., IGB and Turkish Stream. According to Mardas, the country's aims are to diversify flows, ensure energy security, protect the consumer base, and establish a gas hub.

All the above projects have as a common denominator the willingness of the actual consumers, who are all situated in countries like Italy, to accept Greece's role as a transit route and as a pricing hub--a task that is not entirely practical judging by the current business and currency risk the country is facing, as well as purely geographical obstacles.

ITGI, in particular, rests its chances of success on the willingness of the Italian side to assume a long-term responsibility to import large Russian gas flows through it. That necessity is contrary to the fact that Italy's main consumer needs are centred on the north of the country where it is better served via the Austrian hub. The Tesla Pipeline route fits better around the Italian strategy and also the German one, despite Germany's recent commitment to the Nord Stream-2 extension.

Iranian gas flows through Greece will have to deal with a Turkish-Iranian agreement and many other issues of a global geopolitical nature. The East Med. project is at too early a stage for a decision to be made about whether it's a project worth investing heavily in. That's before the ability or willingness of Israel to export into Europe is determined.

That's why, for the moment, there's a definite commotion around the ITGI issue. It's a commotion that rest outside Athens' control--partly due to the Russian-Italian situation and partly because we're still waiting for Turkey to conclusively agree to the establishment of Turkish Stream.

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Source: http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/itgi-back-on-track-26367

SOUTHERN GAS CORRIDOR DISCUSSED IN GREECE | Natural Gas Europe

March 16th, 2015

E

SOUTHERN GAS CORRIDOR DISCUSSED IN GREECE

During the proceedings of the annual Athens Energy Forum 2015, the theme of the emergingSouthern Corridor was touched upon by a cadre of experienced and influential stakeholders and specialists.

The director of the International Centre for Defence Studies and former US Ambassador, Matthew Bryza, pointed out Turkey's decision to enact its participation in Turkish Stream (Turk Stream). The goal of Turkey is to become the unquestionable gas hub in the region and to send a message, primarily to the EU and US, that it has plenty of options regarding its energy security strategy.

Nevertheless, Mr. Bryza assessed that Turkey's strong links with Azerbaijan would remain so in the future and would assist in the development of the Southern Gas Corridor. He estimated that in the future, Ankara may decide to leave Turkish Stream altogether and stick only with the TANAP plan, if it believes that this will be for the benefit of Baku.

Regarding Greece's strategy, Mr. Bryza estimated that the country is in a favorable position and has the capacity to become a strategic hub for new pipelines. That is why Athens needs to diversify its supplies and strongly support the Southern Gas Corridor as a major milestone towards that aim. This with also help with the reduction of gas prices for the whole of the economy and raise up the competitiveness of the local economy.

BP's Vice President of External Affairs and Communication for the Southern Corridor, Emily Olson, placed foremost importance on the "unlocking" of the Caspian Basin via the TANAP-TAP system of pipelines. The Corridor should be implemented as soon as possible in order to achieve a pragmatic diversification via the introduction of major Caspian gas volumes in the coming years. Greece according to Olson should have political stability, so as to be able to support TAP and the speedy tempo required for the realization of such a complicated project.

TAP's External Affairs Director, Michael Hoffmann, stated that the coming three years would be characterized by the construction phase of the pipeline and by mid-2019, the project should be ready to implement tests so as to be commercially ready in 2020. Mr. Hoffman also gave several details regarding the progress of the pipeline in Greece and specifically the number of land plots in negotiation for buyout by the consortium which are 350, whilst there are 127 changes in the route so far after consultation with local authorities. Mr. Hoffman also expressed his warm sentiments for the support of the Greek government in the project. Minor disagreements are all under the careful consideration by the stakeholders. TAP, according to Mr. Hoffmann, is a major strategic infrastructure endeavour for the country that will create jobs and increase the confidence of foreign investors. It will also put Greece at the heart of the EU energy map.

Senior VP of Edison, Elio Ruggeri, who manages the proposed Interconnector Greece-Italy (ITGI), assessed that as far as the Interconnector Greece Bulgaria (IGB) is concerned, it will be operational by 2018 and it would be coupled thereafter with ITGI. ITGI is still a viable alternative option once a new gas supplier emerges in the region. Mr. Ruggeri further explained that substantial amounts of gas are going to be directed towards the tri-border region of Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria within the coming years, which was an indirect reference to the new Turk Stream. In that sense, the TAP and TANAP system would not be able to deal with the massive volumes, thus a new route such a ITGI would be well placed to transfer excessive volumes from Turkey to Italy via Greece.

Mr. Ruggeri also pointed out that the IGI Poseidon, a company managed by Edison, is also interested in the proposed East Med Pipeline and in the near future a consortium of consultants will deliver research regarding proposed routes and estimated costs of that supply route.

US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy, Robin Dubbigan, presented the US approach on the subject discussed. Ms. Dubbigan commented on the current Ukrainian crisis and the subsequent need for energy security in the region, thus betting on the crucial role of the Southern Gas Corridor as a main transfer path for Caspian gas into the EU.

In that way non-Russian gas could find its way into the European markets and enchase energy security by diversifying supplies. She also expressed her satisfaction for the way the Greek government supports TAP and also remarked on the importance of IGB that needs to be completed soon as to be coupled with the rest of the Southern Gas Corridor's infrastructure.

Regarding potential challenges, Ms. Dubbigan placed importance into two key elements. One is the financing of the Southern Gas Corridor and the second are "diversions" caused by other infrastructure projects such as the Turk Stream, which she characterized as an immature plan. Furthermore, Turk Stream does not bring about new sourced gas - it is old gas following a different route. Overall, the high-ranking diplomat stated that the US is working constantly to ensure energy security in the wider region.

Source: http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/southern-corridor-athens-energy-forum-2015-22682?utm_source=Natural+Gas+Europe+Newsletter&utm_campaign=88a5f91697-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c95c702d4c-88a5f91697-307781293