Capitalizing on attractive international LNG market opportunities at present, M&M Gas, a Mytilineos Group and Motor Oil Hellas wholesale venture, has increase its trading activity.

From the beginning of the year until now, M&M has brought into the Greek market one 135,000-cubic meter shipload of LNG, which was unloaded in two installments, on January 19 and 23. This will be followed by a second shipload of 140,000 cubic meters, scheduled to arrive on February 8.

However, the dramatic drop in crude oil prices, whose impact is expected to be fully rolled over onto the cost of natural gas via the pipelines within the next few months, has raised questions as to whether LNG imports will remain a favorable option.

The plunge in international crude oil prices has had an immediate effect on LNG price levels. Lower oil prices, however, take longer, or roughly six months, to fully impact pipeline-supplied natural gas prices. This in-between period is now being capitalized on by M&M Gas.

Not including DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation, M&M Gas is the country’s only independent, private-sector company importing LNG. In doing so, it is utilizing one of the country’s most important gas infrastructure facilities, the LNG terminal in Revythoussa, an islet in the Saronic Gulf, close to Athens.