Page 10 - Euroil Week 01 2020

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Greek, Bulgarian firms to buy into new LNG import terminal
GREECE
The Northern Greece FSRU is important for both Bulgaria and Greece.
GREEK gas utility DEPA and Bulgarian coun- terpart Bulgartransgaz are set to snap up shares in a new floating LNG import project due to be developed near Alexandroupolis.
DEPA said on December 23 that its board had signed off on the decision to acquire a 20% stake in Gastrade, which wants to develop the North- ern Greece floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). The deal will need approval from regulators.
Bulgartransgaz meanwhile said on January 8 that it had penned a preliminary contract to buy a 20% interest as well.
The Northern Greece FSRU represents a lynchpin of Bulgaria and Greece’s energy strate- gies. It will help both diversify their gas supplies and establish themselves as major hubs. The ven- ture is listed as an EU project of common inter- est (PCI), entitling it to EU funding and eased regulation.
The facility is to have a regasification capac- ity of 22.7mn cubic metres per day (8.3bn cubic metres per year) – far surpassing Greece’s annual gas consumption of around 4.7 bcm. The excess gas will be supplied across the Balkans via the 3 bcm per year Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), due on stream this year.
“The terminal significantly upgrades Greece’s geopolitical position as an energy gateway to South-eastern Europe and a regional energy
hub,” DEPA said in a statement. “Through the participation in the equity of Gastrade, we assume an active role in the implementation of the project.”
A final investment decision (FID) on the plan is expected in the third quarter of 2020, with commercial operations now slated to start in September 2022 – more than a year behind schedule.
The Northern Greece FSRU will be Greece’s second LNG terminal, joining the Revithoussa plant launched two decades ago and operated by Greece’s National Natural Gas System Oper- ator (DESFA). Greece also sources gas from Russia and will shortly begin receiving supplies from Azerbaijan via the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC).
The new FSRU will be anchored 10km off the coast of Alexandroupolis, connected to the national gas grid via a 28-km pipeline. In addi- tion to its regasification capability, it will have an LNG storage capacity of 170,000 cubic metres.
Gastrade, a division of Greek energy group Copelouzos, courted several investors for the project before agreeing a deal with DEPA. Shareholders at Romania’s Romgaz approved in principle the purchase of a 20% stake in the firm in September last year, and Bulgaria has also expressed its interest in the import pro- ject. ™
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