Greece Eyes Italian Gas Storage to Help Meet Winter Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Greece can meet its winter natural gas demand by tapping Italy’s storage sites as concerns mount over the stability of Russian supplies to the region.

Even though Greece has plenty of import capacity, with a liquefied natural gas terminal and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline running through the nation, the Mediterranean country lacks facilities to store the fuel. This could be a problem in the next heating season if flows of Russian gas are disrupted by the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

If required, the TAP link that delivers Azerbaijani gas west to Italy could also work in reverse, bringing more of that fuel to Greece, according to DESFA SA, the country’s gas network operator. And such an arrangement could be a requirement under a European Union proposal that will oblige member states with sufficient gas storage to help those without. 

“Through TAP we can use Italian storage,” said Michael Thomadakis, director for strategy and development at the grid company. “We are all looking at Italy, and this is feasible. Probably it would be an obligation.”

Next winter, Greece’s gas demand may climb to 35 million cubic meters a day, with LNG providing 20 million, TAP another 10 million and a similar amount sourced from Russia. While Greece doesn’t currently expect disruptions of Russian gas, it can weather any halts in the short term, Thomadakis said. 

In January, Greece’s dependency on Russian gas fell to 33% from around 40%, while imports of LNG covered 47% of the country’s needs and the remaining 20% was sourced from TAP, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said earlier this month.

Greece’s Revithoussa LNG terminal also has extra capacity, with about 30-35 slots typically utilized annually, out of 45 available, Thomadakis said. Of the 6 billion cubic meters a year the facility can send out, about half goes north to Bulgaria and North Macedonia and the rest is for the Greek market. 

Another planned terminal in Alexandroupolis will also supply the two neighboring countries when it’s commissioned. 

“In theory we could replace Russian gas for next year, but not for the long run in the development we see right now with so many new power plants coming online,” Thomadakis said. “For Greece, we do have sufficient import capacity to replace Russian gas, the main question of course is where are we going to find the quantities.”

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With assistance from Bloomberg