29 March 2024
Greece is the word: Athens eyes Balkans LNG hub role
Publication date: 07 June 2021
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Greece is one of Europe’s smallest natural gas markets, consuming 5.1 Bcm in 2020, out of which just under 3.6 Bcm was imported as LNG. However, with the country now stepping up its coal-to-gas switching in power generation, the government expects gas consumption to grow 40% over the coming decade.
Wishing to make gas more accessible to consumers and support the uptake of LNG as bunker fuel in the country, grid operator DESFA is upgrading Greece’s sole LNG import terminal, the 5.1 mtpa Revithoussa near Athens, to include small-scale infrastructure. LNG truck loadings at Revithoussa could begin by the end of 2021 or early next year, and bunkering in 2024.
Meanwhile, a second LNG terminal, which will utilise a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), is being developed at Alexandroupolis in north-eastern Greece. Though critics have raised doubts over the need for a second LNG terminal in a country well-supplied with pipeline gas, the project’s supporters see it as vital to increasing energy security and for supply diversification, not only for Greece, but also the wider Balkan region.