Greece Accelerates Domestic Natural Gas Investments
The Greek State decided to increase investments into creating three more regional natural gas trade companies and expand its domestic natural gas pipeline network.
More specifically, the Ministry of Energy announced a 150 million Euros plan that will establish three regional gas companies for Central Greece, Central Macedonia and Thrace peripheries respectively. A strategic investor will be sought that will acquire around 35-49% of their shares, along with the management of the companies. The rest percentage will remain in the DEPA natural gas company, which already owns 51% of another three already established regional companies.
The domestic commercial pipeline network will expand by 2020 with 375 Km of new medium pressure pipelines and another 1560 Km of low pressure ones. Also 58 new meter stations will be created. It is estimated by the local authorities that due to these investments, around 500,000 tons of oil per annum will be less consumed and more than 5,000 direct and indirect vacancies will be created. The total number of potential customers that can be serviced by the new three companies exceeds 1,800,000 people.
There will be an international call for investment around the end of October 2011 and it is calculated by the Greek authorities that the process will finish by early 2012 when the investors chosen will be announced. The licences for the regional supply of gas will have duration of 35 years with the possibility of renewal, and will detail on the exclusivity of these entities to supply both industrial and domestic users of gas. The prospective investors will invest capital for the necessary local investments in terms of gas network construction and will also have to ensure the steady supply of gas to their specified district.
Moreover, Greece's largest regional natural gas company, named EPA-Attika, servicing the metropolitan Athens region, has changed ownership, with Shell buying the shares of Duke Energy. Shell bought 25% of the company's shares for 50 million Euros. Shell already owned 24%; therefore it now owns 49% of shares, the rest belonging to the state-owned natural gas company DEPA. Shell also has acquired the right to control the management of the company, with DEPA keeping an oversight status. EPA's pipeline network is approximately 3,000 Km and it serves 230,000 households with the capability of tripling its costumer base, by making use of the existing infrastructure. Moreover it supplies gas to 5,300 commercial outlets and 400 industrial costumers.
Lastly, DESFA, a 100% subsidiary of DEPA that manages the nationwide gas pipeline systems, announced its intention of expanding the network by a series of routes, aiming to expand natural gas use in the country for important industrial costumers. Thus, it will start negotiations with the National Bank of Greece (NBG), in order to finance the construction of a new domestic gas pipeline of 145 Km of length, in the region of heavy industry of Megalopolis in Southern Greece. The planning is to finish the project by 2013 costing as initially estimated, around 230 million Euros.
DESFA has also made known around its 350 million Euros project, concerning the creation of a natural gas strategic depot in the Kavala region in Northern Greece, aiming to supply both the Greek and the neighbouring markets and especially those of Bulgaria and Romania.
According to the Institute of Energy For South-East Europe based in Athens, the country is steadily moving on investing in the long-term prospects of natural gas together with renewable energy resources such as wind and solar in order to decrease its dependency on oil to a considerable degree, as well as, its consumption of lignite curbing C02 emissions.