The natural gas sector will benefit most from the country’s plan to decarbonize by 2028 but new infrastructure will be needed to cope with the higher gas demand, officials have pointed out at an Athens forum.

Greece’s overall natural gas demand forecast for 2030 has now been revised upwards and is expected to exceed 8 billion cubic meters. Also, LNG appears likely to dominate over pipeline-supplied gas.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a decarbonization objective for Greece by 2028 while delivering a speech at the recent UN Climate Action Summit in New York.

Prior to this announcement, domestic natural gas demand was forecast to rise to 6 billion cubic meters by 2030 with a possible additional amount of up to one billion cubic meters, depending on the number of new gas-fueled power stations to be developed in coming years.

The revised gas demand forecasts for Greece were presented yesterday by gas grid operator DESFA and Gastrade company officials at the Athens Investment Forum.

Gastrade general manager Konstantinos Sifneos projected annual gas demand will increase to 7 billion cubic meters over the next five years.

Gas demand increased by 17 percent this year, while, for the first time, LNG quantities exceeded pipeline gas, it was noted.