GREECE

Greece has significantly increased its gas imports from Azerbaijan, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, told Trend.

June saw a notable surge in imports, with 174.6 million cubic meters received, compared to 163 million cubic meters in May, marking a 7.1 percent month-on-month increase.

Greece imported a total of 1.020 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan between January and June 2023.

On May 18, 2023: Greece's Copelouzos Group, through its subsidiaries DAMCO ENERGY and ELICA MEDITERRANEAN INTERCONNECTION, and Infinity Power, a joint venture between Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) and Egypt's Infinity, signed a memorandum of understanding. The companies will cooperate on a non-exclusive basis to jointly develop renewable energy projects that will also provide a source of green energy for the GREGY electrical interconnector.

The Greek "Copelouzos Group" participated in the event "Energy Interconnection Europe-Egypt", organized by the Permanent Representation Office of the European Union in Cairo and the Swedish Embassy under the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU. John Karidas, CEO of Copelouzos Group's RES business unit, presented the key benefits and opportunities that the commissioning of the Egypt-Greece GREGY electricity connection will open up for Egypt and Greece, as well as for Europe as a whole.

The capacity of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), which has 15 gas traders as registered users, was booked by 90 percent in February, Teodora Georgieva, chief executive director of ICGB company, the pipeline operator, said, Trend reports.

Moreover, she noted that in December, with over 90 percent of its capacity booked, IGB transported gas to Moldova.

Natural gas in Bulgaria has fallen in price since April 1, , Trend reports citing the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.

The Commission approved on Saturday the price of gas in April in the amount of 98.16 leva (about 49.8 euros) per 1 MWh without additional payments, while in March it was 106.74 leva ( about 53.37 euros).

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will allocate additional 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas from 2026, said Luca Schieppati, TAP Managing Director at the European Gas Conference, Trend reports.

“TAP recently triggered the first level of capacity expansion. The additional 1.2 bcm to be allocated from 2026 will be the initial phase of the process until capacity is reached to 20 bcm per year,” he said.

Commissioning of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) on time was very crucial, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt told Greek media, Trend reports.

He believes that this enabled Europe to successfully pass the winter test.

Pyatt went on to add that liquified natural gas supplies also played an important role in Europe’s energy diversification.

The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, met with the CEO and founder of the Greek Copelouzos Group, Dimitris Copelouzos, to discuss the implementation of the Egypt-Greece electricity connection, which will improve energy connectivity and diversification in the region.

The Greek group "Copelouzos" will soon buy out Gazprom's stake in the Greek consortium "Prometheus Gas" and will become the sole shareholder in the consortium, as it currently owns 50 percent of the capital and the rest 50 percent are held by the Russian state-owned gas giant, a source from " Copelouzos" told Agence France-Presse today, BTA reported.

"This is a divorce by mutual consent mainly because of the war in Ukraine and the European sanctions," said an employee of the Kopeluzos group, who wished to remain anonymous.

Around 4.875 million megawatt hours were transported through the Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline (IGB) for the period October 1 - December 31, 2022, the ICGB, the pipeline operator, told Trend.

“In December, just months after the pipeline entered commercial operation, IGB’s capacity reached over 94 percent booking rate. By the end of 2022, there are 11 registered users of the interconnector,” said the company.