Page 13 - EurOil Week 37

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

DESFA eyes role in Greek

LNG terminal

GREECE GREEK gas grid operator DESFA, majori- Belgium’s Fluxys to take a 66% interest in DESFA
ty-owned by a consortium led by Italy’s Snam, in 2018 in the latter’s privatisation sale. Snam
The terminal, Greece’s is reportedly eyeing a stake in an LNG import owns 60% of the consortium, while its partners
second, is due to start terminal in northern Greece. each have 20%.
up in 2023. DESFA is considering the purchase of a 30% The main owner of the project is Greek firm
interest in the group developing the Alexan- Copelouzos, which has a 40% position. Greek
droupolis LNG terminal, expected to start oper- gas supplier DEPA Commercial, Bermuda-reg-
ations by 2023, sources told Reuters last week. istered LNG vessel owner GasLog and Bulgar-
Neither the Greek company nor Snam have ian grid operator Bulgartransgaz have all bought
commented on the report. 20% stakes.
The floating storage and regasification unit The Alexandroupolis facility will be Greece’s
(FSRU) has been listed as an EU project of com- second LNG terminal. Its first, in Revithoussa,
mon interest (PCI), granting it access to bloc was launched in 2000 and can import up to 7
funding and regulatory support. It will cost bcm per year of gas. That terminal alone can
around €380mn ($448mn) to build and will more than cover Greek gas consumption, which
bring ashore up to 6bn cubic metres per year of totals around 4.7 bcm per year.
gas. It will have 170,000 cubic metres of storage Athens is therefore establishing new routes
capacity and will be tied to the Greek gas grid to distribute the gas it receives to neighbouring
through a 28-km pipeline. countries. One such project is the Interconnector
A final investment decision (FID) has not Greece Bulgaria (IGB), due to start pumping up
been taken on the project yet, although this mile- to 3 bcm per year of gas to Bulgaria starting in
stone is anticipated by the end of the year. 2020.
“It fits Snam’s plans to expand its LNG capac- Greece is also set to start receiving Azeri gas
ity beyond Italy,” one source told Reuters. later this year via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline
Snam teamed up with Spain’s Enagas and (TAP). Snam also has a 20% position at TAP. ™

Ukraine shuts down pipeline

after explosion

UKRAINE A major pipeline carrying gas from fields in as of September 12 – an unprecedented amount
Ukraine’s gas-to-storage facilities in the western this early on in the year. Gas storage has risen
Russian gas transit via part of country was rocked by an explosion just to record levels across Europe over the summer,
Ukraine is unaffected. after midnight on September 15, authorities have as suppliers took time to respond to the collapse
said. in demand caused by coronavirus (COVID-19)
The blast occurred at 00:20 local time near lockdowns earlier in the year.
the town of Chabany in the Kyiv region, at the Russia’s Gazprom transited some 34.8 bcm of
Kyiv-Western Ukraine-1 pipeline. Within an gas to its European clients through Ukraine in
hour the affected section was shut down to pre- the first eight months of 2020, marking a 42%
vent further gas losses. decline year on year. The company has seen
Other pipelines have been used to reroute European sales slump as a result of the pan-
flows to consumers, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry demic, and it has taken a worse hit from the crisis
said in a statement. The country’s gas transmis- than its LNG competitors because the bulk of its
sion system operator GTSOU confirmed this, gas is sold at prices indexed to oil with a time lag.
adding that there had been no impact on Russian Ukraine’s state-run Naftogaz expects transit
gas transit to Ukraine. payments from Gazpom to reach $2bn in 2020,
No one was hurt in the incident, authorities its CEO Andriy Kobolev said on September 16.
have said. “I think this year the figure will be close to
Polices are investigating the cause of the $2bn,” he was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s
explosion, and repairs are expected to take two Ukrinform, adding that the ship-or-pay clause
or three days, according to GTSOU. in its contract with Gazprom guaranteed it a
Ukraine boasted some 26.65bn cubic metres minimum income, despite the Russian company
of gas in its vast underground storage network sending much less gas. ™

Week 37 17•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13