Bulgaria to Snap up Stake in Greek LNG Terminal
Bulgaria’s gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz said on January 8 it had entered a preliminary deal to acquire a 20% stake in Gastrade, a company developing a new LNG import facility off the coast of northern Greece.
The purchase was approved by Bulgaria’s council of ministers, Bulgartransgaz said in a statement.
The company described the move as a step forward in Bulgaria’s plan to become a hub for gas supplies in the Balkan region.
Gastrade plans to position a floating storage and regasification unit 10 km off Alexandroupolis, capable of importing around 8.3bn m3/yr of gas each year. This far surpasses Greece’s annual consumption of around 4.7bn m3, which is currently met with Russian piped gas and LNG brought ashore at another terminal near Athens.
Some of the gas from the Alexandroupolis facility will be routed to Bulgaria via the 3bn m3/yr Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, due online this year. The pipeline will also flow Azeri gas, due to arrive in Europe in late 2020 via the Southern Gas Corridor.
Bulgaria also started getting supplies this month from Russia’s TurkStream pipeline, which runs under the Black Sea to Turkey. It will be able to transit additional Russian gas to central Europe arriving from TurkStream’s second 15.75bn m3/yr string once it makes the necessary infrastructure improvements.
Harnessing its position as a crossroads for gas supplies, Bulgaria launched its own gas trading platform on January 2. It has also signed a memorandum with Greece, Hungary and Romania on creating a vertical gas corridor.
A final investment decision on the Alexandroupolis terminal is expected in the third quarter of 2020, with operations due to start in September 2022. Gastrade is a subsidiary of Greek energy group Copelouzos. Greek gas utility Depa is also preparing to buy a 20% stake in the company.