INTERVIEW: Greece-Bulgaria gas link to run market tests for capacity expansion in H2 - SEE NEWS

Apr 28, 2023 15:31 EEST
Antonia Kokalova-Gray

SOFIA April 28 (SeeNews) - ICGB, the operator of the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas interconnector (IGB), is planning to launch market tests in the second half of 2023 to gauge potential demand ahead of a planned capacity expansion, chief executive Teodora Georgieva told SeeNews.

ICGB has begun assessing the pipeline's infrastructure readiness to carry hydrogen as well, Georgieva told SeeNews in an interview earlier this month at the Budapest LNG Summit.

In case of sufficient market demand, the expansion of the IGB's capacity to 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year from the current 3 bcm/year will also help ensure the flow of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from terminals in Greece - the operational facility at Revithoussa and planned terminals like the one in Alexandroupolis. ICGB is already working on this opportunity with Greek transmission system operator DESFA, according to the chief executive. Building a new compressor station on the Greek side is one of the projects that will advance capacity expansion.

Half of Bulgaria-Greece gas link capacity already reserved - SEE NEWS

Jan 26, 2022 17:43 EEST
Aleksia Petrova

SOFIA (Bulgaria), January 26 (SeeNews) - ICGB, the company developing the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria project, said that a total of 1.57 bcm, half of the gas link's capacity, has already been reserved ahead of its planned launch of commercial operations in July.

"Four out of the five shippers that have booked capacity are entirely new to the Bulgarian market and that leads us to believe the international and market interest in the project will only be growing after its commercial launch," ICGB said in a statement quoting Teodora Georgieva, its executive officer on the Bulgarian side.

ICGB also said that it has signed a contract with Germany-based PRISMA European Capacity Platform, Europe’s leading gas capacity trading platform, marking a major milestone in the preparations for the pipeline’s launch of commercial operation.

Greece turning into gas hub - KATHIMERINI

23.JAN.2022 • 10:29
Chryssa Liaggou

Greece will add two more liquefied natural gas terminals for storage and gasification, thereby strengthening its gas supply security and obtaining a strong role in transit by making the most of its strategic location and its new corridors for the supply of Europe and the Balkans.

Greek energy groups want to make the most of the opportunity of gas being the bridge fuel on the way to clean energy, and of Balkan countries’ need to diversify their sources and not be so reliant on Gazprom. They have therefore designed and are promoting infrastructure for their entry into the Greek LNG system. The fuel will use Greece’s pipelines (the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria and its connectors, and the plan for the interconnection with North Macedonia) to reach the neighboring countries and reduce their dependence on Turkey, which besides hosting pipelines has also invested in LNG infrastructure, making it a hub for Southeast Europe.

Italy regulator grants TAP AG more time for first gas delivery, company confirms Q4 deadline - PLATTS

03 Jul 2020 | 12:46 UTC London

Silvia Favasuli; Editor: Jonathan Fox

• TAP AG says extension requested in case of delay due to COVID-19
• New deadline for first gas delivery now December 2021
• But confirms commitment to deliver first gas in Q4 2020

London — The developer of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, TAP AG, confirmed late July 2 its commitment to deliver first Azerbaijani gas into Italy in the fourth quarter of this year, despite having asked and obtained from Italy's regulator the possibility of postponing first delivery of gas until December 2021.

"The TAP project is more than 96% complete and reconfirms the target of transporting first gas to Europe within 2020," Vugar Veysalov, TAP head of external affairs, told S&P Global Platts late July 2.

Taps and alliances in an era of hard pipeline diplomacy - KATHIMERINI

18.JAN.2020 : 14:02
Stavros Tzimas

Amid growing turmoil over energy issues in the Eastern Mediterranean, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the TurkStream pipeline in Istanbul earlier this month.

The operation of TurkStream, which will carry Russian natural gas to Central Europe through Turkey, will go some way toward fulfilling Moscow’s goal of reducing gas transit via Ukraine. With the pipeline starting in Novorossiysk, crossing the Black Sea and ending at Kiyikoy in northwestern Turkey, Russia achieves its aim of bypassing Ukraine – with which relations have long been troubled – while Turkey gets to reinforce its role as the controller of the pipeline taps that bring gas to the West.

The pipeline is seen supplying the Turkish market and branching out through Bulgaria and Serbia to send gas to Central Europe. That is why the leaders of the two Balkan countries, Boyko Borisov and Aleksandar Vucic respectively, were present at the event in Istanbul.

TAP pipeline completed; trial op starts soon - KATHIMERINI

24.11.2019 : 13:04

The Greek section of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) transporting natural gas from Azerbaijan to Greece, Albania, Italy and points beyond in western Europe is ready and will begin trial operations in early December.

During this so-called commissioning phase, small volumes of natural gas will go through the pipeline to ensure commercial use is safe.

The pipeline has already been tested for structural flaws by pumping water under pressure through it.

The commissioning phase will last several months, but commercial use will begin in 2020.

The total length of the pipeline from the Greek-Turkish border to Italy through Albania and the Adriatic Sea is 878 kilometers (545 miles).

Pyatt at Thessaloniki Summit: “Energy Collaboration the Brightest Aspect of Greece-U.S. Relations” - THE NATIONAL HERALD

November 14, 2019

THESSALONIKI- US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt spoke of ”the collaboration on energy is one of the brightest aspects of the relationship between Greece and the US,” while addressing the Thessaloniki Summit 2019 on Thursday, which he is attending for a third time.

Pyatt underlined that US presence in northern Greece is much more apparent compared to previous years, as “we have made the city of Alexandroupolis our strategic focus,” and he referred to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and the Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as the three elements that make the northern Greek city so significant.

He especially praised TAP’s potential for “changing Europe’s energy map and bringing non-Russian gas to European customers.”

TANAP delivers 2.39 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey as of August - DAILY SABAH

27.09.2019 
BARIŞ ERGIN

The amount of gas the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) has carried to Turkey has reached 2.39 billion cubic meters as of August, TANAP General Manager Saltuk Düzyol said.

"A total of 30%, corresponding to $450 million, of the revenue of $1.45 billion that will be generated when the total transmission capacity is reached, will belong to BOTAŞ [Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation] every year. We predict that TANAP will reach a full transmission capacity of 16 billion cubic meters in two to three years," Düzyol told a group of journalists in Ankara yesterday.

The 1,850-kilometer TANAP forms the backbone of the Southern Gas Corridor, a project to increase and diversify European energy supply by bringing gas resources from the Caspian Sea: Shah Deniz 2 gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and through Turkey to Europe markets.

Ambassador Pyatt’s Remarks at ELIAMEP - U.S. EMBASSY IN ATHENS

September 16, 2019

Ambassador Pyatt: I will try to mirror my Cyprus counterpart and be brief so we have time for discussion.

Let me start by commending Thanos, ELIAMEP and Claudia and DEREE for putting this event together. This is a really important set of issues and I’m delighted to be able to have this prestigious audience, to have Ambassador Theodorou here, and also to have my new Israeli counterpart whom I look forward very much to working with in the months and years ahead.

I would also note, we’re meeting at a particularly busy time for the American Embassy in Greece. We had Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross here two weeks ago for a visit that highlighted the United States’ enthusiasm for the changes that are happening under the new Greek government and the investment and economic opportunities, the green light which we see in the decisions that are coming from Prime Minister Mitsotakis and his team.

Mytilineos Group overtakes DEPA as major LNG importer in 2019 - KATHIMERINI

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 9, 2019

Private Greek industrial group Mytilineos has overtaken incumbent DEPA to become the country’s biggest LNG importer this year, the first time in history that an independent company has knocked the state-owned company from the top spot, ICIS an information platform on petrochemicals and specifically on energy issues, fertilisers and other commodities said in a report.

Mytilineos imported over 370,000 tonnes of LNG from January to July, or 39 percent of the national total supplies, according to LNG Edge. DEPA took 273,000 tonnes, or 29 percent.

DEPA’s market share was 92 percent last year, and has never previously fallen below 50 pct. The shift indicates the progress made in one of the last countries in the European Union to liberalize its gas market.

The market began opening back in 2005, but momentum picked up from 2018 when the retail market was fully liberalized, leaving consumers free to choose their supplier. DEPA has been losing customers ever since.

With demand from the electricity power sector as well as industrial needs in aluminium manufacturing, Mytilineos is at the forefront of the market.

Revythousa to help Bulgaria in LNG supply - KATHIMERINI

21.06.2019 : 20:30

Chryssa Liaggou

Less than a year after it was upgraded with a third tank, the gas terminal on the island of Revythousa is confirming its strategic role as a feeder of the broader Balkan market, as on August 31 it will receive the first liquefied natural gas load destined for Bulgaria that is procured directly by a Bulgarian company.

Energico, owned by a former official of gas grid operator Bulgartransgaz, will be the first Bulgarian company to make a direct LNG procurement through Revythousa to cover Bulgaria’s needs, as the islet off the Attica coast is the only facility that allows for the diversification of natural gas sources in Greece’s northern neighbor, which is almost 100 percent dependent on Russian gas.

That option will become even easier when the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pipeline starts operating, along with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), in 2020.

Bulgarian PM Borisov: IGB to Lead to a Real Diversification of Sources - NOVINITE

May 25, 2019, Saturday // 08:57

Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria will ensure real diversification of sources, said Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Trend reports.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras before the groundbreaking ceremony of the interconnector that took place May 22 in Bulgaria’s Kirkovo.

“The realization of the project for construction of gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Greece will have a key role for the whole region and for Europe. The project is of strategic importance not only for our two countries but also for the whole of Europe, including the countries of the Western Balkans," said the prime minister.

Borissov pointed out that the interconnector will lead to a real diversification of the sources and routes for natural gas supply.

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.

The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

Italy opposes Poseidon gas pipeline landfall - REUTERS

MAY 7, 2019 / 7:37 PM

ROME, May 7 (Reuters) - Italy will not allow the Poseidon gas pipeline being developed by Italy’s Edison and Greece’s DEPA to make landfall as planned in southern Italy, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday.

The Poseidon pipeline, which has permits to run from Greece to the southern town of Otranto, is the final section of the EastMed pipeline that aims to bring gas reserves from the east Mediterranean to Italy.

TEKMOR Note: The Poseidon pipeline was planned as the last leg of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) to transport gas from Azerbaijan via TANAP & TAP long before the idea of East Med Pipeline came into being!

“The government is certainly not interested at present in building the final tract of Poseidon as originally planned,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said at an event near Rome.

Two years ago DEPA and Edison signed a cooperation agreement with Russia’s Gazprom to set up joint efforts to create a southern route for gas into Europe.

The United States has been pressuring EU member states to find alternative natural gas supply sources not involving Russia.

Ambassador Pyatt’s Remarks at the 2nd Energy Union Leaders Academy Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation - US EMBASSY ATHENS GREECE

Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation

Panorama City Hall

April 12, 2019, 16:00

Let me start this short address by thanking the Greek Energy Forum and the American College of Thessaloniki for organizing this “Energy Union Future Leaders” Academy, bringing together young leaders from 18 countries to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the vitally important energy sector. I can’t think of a better location for this event than Thessaloniki, exactly at the moment that northern Greece is reestablishing its role as the commercial and energy hub of the Balkans. I’m also especially glad that this is happening on the campus of Anatolia College, which is really one of the hidden gems of the U.S. legacy of support in northern Greece, and I’m delighted to be on the campus on such a beautiful day.

Two of the Academy’s main objectives are the promotion of energy diversification and energy security, which happen to mirror priorities of the United States government. And I think the energy security of our European partners and allies has been a longstanding priority for the United States, but it’s only over the past few years, that Greece has become a real leader in these efforts. I know that the Greek Minister of Energy, Minister Stathakis, heard this message very clearly from our Secretary of State and our Secretary of Energy when he was in Houston last month, and Secretary Pompeo repeated a similar message when he recently participated in the first 3+1 summit meeting in Jerusalem with Prime Ministers Netanyahu, Anastasiadis, and Tsipras.

State veto rights for DEPA Trade despite minority stake - ENERGY PRESS

28/FEB/2019

Investors preparing for gas utility DEPA’s upcoming privatization will face ambiguous operating conditions as the Greek State, to begin by offering a majority 50.1 percent stake in DEPA Trade following an imminent company split ahead of the sale, is expected to maintain veto rights on a number of strategic matters despite its minority status in this trade venture.

Key issues to concern DEPA Trade will include the gas utility’s long-term agreements with major suppliers such as Russia’s Gazprom, Algeria’s Sonatrach and Turkey’s Botas.

DEPA’s contract with Gazprom, which runs until 2026 and is the biggest of all three, features a take-or-pay clause requiring the Greek gas utility to order no less than 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year or face fines.

DEPA’s supply agreements with Sonatrach and Botas both expire in 2021. The Botas agreement will not be extended as the soon-to-be-launched TAP project will provide direct supply to Greece from Azerbaijan. DEPA has already signed an agreement for one billion cubic meters of TAP-related natural gas per year.

Subsequently, the Greek State will maintain its influence over DEPA’s supply contracts with Sonatrach and Gazprom.

U.S. - Greece Strategic Dialogue - Remarks by Secretary Pompeo - U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

This afternoon, @SecPompeo delivered remarks with Greek Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs @gkatr as part of the U.S.-#Greece Strategic Dialogue at the State Department. @GreeceMFA @USEmbassyAthens @GreeceInUSA pic.twitter.com/HjrDFYKAJ8

— Department of State (@StateDept) December 13, 2018

The TurkStream Opportunity - CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

November 28, 2018

Nikos Tsafos

As the battle for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project continues, the offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline, from Russia to Turkey, was inaugurated on Monday, November 19. Two broadly similar projects have triggered sharply different responses—no one is threatening sanctions over TurkStream, there are no grand legal or diplomatic chess moves to stop the project, and the op-eds and conferences denouncing the project are few and far between. That is good news—no one needs more Nord Stream 2-like controversy. But it is also good news because TurkStream can enhance energy security; but only if Europe acts. For a continent bitterly—and, often, needlessly— divided by pipelines, TurkStream offers an opportunity to depoliticize gas and show that new infrastructure can be a win-win for Russia and Europe.

TurkStream will have two parallel lines: the first to deliver gas to Turkey, the second for onward sale to Europe (although markets will determine the actual volume split). Like other Russian pipelines, the short-term impact will be to change how Russian gas is sent to Europe: rather than flowing through Ukraine, Russian gas will be shipped straight to Turkey and, later, Europe through the Black Sea. Over time, as Russian exports grow, the pipeline will be delivering new gas rather than acting purely as a substitute route. This evolution takes time: gas transit through Ukraine fell by approximately 40 percent between 2011 and 2014, after the Nord Stream 1 pipeline came online, but it had largely recovered by 2017 (2017 volumes were about 10 percent lower than 2011).

Greece's Gastrade launches market test for Alexandroupoli LNG terminal - KATHIMERINI

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31, 2018, 10:41

Greek natural gas company Gastrade on Tuesday launched a market test for a liquified natural gas terminal it is developing in northern Greece.

Companies interested in seeking services and capacity in the terminal must submit non-binding expressions of interest within 45 days, it said.

Greece currently has one LNG terminal on an islet off Athens. Gastrade, part of Greek energy group Copelouzos, is planning Greece’s second LNG terminal near the northern city of Alexandroupoli.

The facility, with an estimated annual capacity of 6.1 billion cubic metres (bcm), will seek to supply gas to southeastern Europe via another natural gas pipeline scheme that will cross through Greece, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB).

The IGB and the LNG terminal would then fit with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which has been under construction to transport Caspian gas to European markets.

Greece builds pipeline to transport natural gas from Caspian Sea - AL JAZEERA

27 October 2018

John Psaropoulos 

Greece is known for its history and climate, but not for oil and gas.

That may be about to change with a new pipeline (a five billion-dollar project) being completed across the north of the country that will transport natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Western Europe.

It's part of a European Union policy to move away from dependence on Russian gas after shipments were stopped for two weeks during the 2009 Ukraine crisis, causing shortages in southeastern Europe.

Al Jazeera's John Psaropoulos reports (2:22 video).

Beyond the Southern Gas Corridor: Interconnecting Central/East Europe and the Balkans? - NAOC

October 12, 2018October 12, 2018 

Mariana Liakopoulou

Following the August signing of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a large-scale gas pipeline project that aspires to connect the region’s copious hydrocarbon resources to the European markets, has been drawn back into international debate.

The present article illuminates how the SGC enhances the potential for cross-border interconnectivity amongst EU member-states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Balkans, as well as amongst the Energy Community contracting parties. The Energy Community is an initiative introduced at the onset of the twenty-first century by the EU and several third countries in its southeastern vicinity, focusing on the extension of the EU’s existing rules to aspirants for membership.