Athens
30
06
2023
ENERGY / ECONOMY

Greek gas grid says 27 companies interested in booking future capacity

Greece has received interest from 27 U.S. and European companies in booking future capacity at its gas grid, which would allow them to import and export gas to Europe via the country in the coming decades, grid operator DESFA said on Thursday.
(© REUTERS)
Greece has received interest from 27 U.S. and European companies in booking future capacity at its gas grid, which would allow them to import and export gas to Europe via the country in the coming decades, grid operator DESFA said on Thursday.

Greece has become a key transit route for gas in Europe thanks to a liquefied gas facility off Athens, which saw increased traffic from around the world after the war in Ukraine cut flows of Russian gas to the continent.

It also has gas interconnections with Bulgaria and Turkey, while several floating storage and gas regasification units are either being built or in the pipeline.

DESFA launched in March a market test to sound out interest from companies in booking future capacity at the grid's entry and exit points, citing a rising number of requests.

Companies from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Cyprus, North Macedonia and the U.S. have requested capacity allocation to import and export gas from next year up to 2050, both through existing and new entry points, DESFA said in a statement.

The current expressions of interest have been non-binding. The binding phase is expected to start in 2024 and will conclude with capacity allocation to bidders which meet specific criteria, DESFA said.

tags: Economy International