Greece Faces Russian Natural Gas Challenges

“The country’s heavy dependence on natural gas imports from Russia, which makes up about 60 percent of its domestic demand, has added Greece to the list of European consumers with an uncertain energy future.”

Referring to the tensions in the Ukraine and Russia, the article focuses on a possible halt in gas imports and its need to seek possible alternatives.

“Like Italy, Greece has sought solutions both at home and abroad, including new import agreements and the possibility of domestic production. For Athens, this would mean building on existing pipeline traffic from Azerbaijan and expanding the country’s LNG capacity, which led to last week’s appeal to Brussels.

Any increase would likely work within Greece’s existing LNG infrastructure as relevant plants are long term and expensive efforts, making it unlikely they would play a part in the short term. Greece may be able to win EU support for LNG expansion in the long term as a part of a concerted effort to invest in connectivity infrastructure projects deemed to ensure energy security for European member states, but any such relief would be very long term.”, the article notes.

Another possible solution, “source of relief” as the article notes would be its domestic production.

“Like many in the region, Greece has seized onto the possibility of offshore reserves as neighbors like Cyprus and especially Israel make real headway towards exploration and export revenue.”

“Over the last three years, Athens has also made a concerted effort to lay claim to the Eastern Mediterranean’s recent energy rush, both as a potential transport hub for Israeli and Cypriot gas reserves. Earlier this year, Athens entered the transport conversation by offering a tender for a pipeline project that would transport about 8 billion cubic meters of gas into the European market from offshore fields controlled by Cyprus and Israel", the article concludes.