The board at DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation, facing pressure from the country’s lenders to relinquish part of its dominant control of the local natural gas market, is believed to be preparing a list of proposals, to be forwarded to the government by the end of this month, that will include a plan for its continued role in the EPA Attiki and EDA Attiki supply companies, with the respective current stakes intact, and either a complete withdrawal from the EPA Thessalia and EPA Thessaloniki companies, or a drastic reduction in these combined with increased stakes in the EDA Thessalia-Thessaloniki ventures.

Though the gas market reform demands included in the revised bailout are not specific, the country’s lenders are pressuring for an end to DEPA’s widespread market presence.

The corporation is currently engaged in wholesale and retail gas supply, maintains 51 percent stakes in all of the country’s regional EPA gas supply companies, and also enjoys interests in EDA, the gas distribution company.

The country’s lenders, as noted in the revised bailout, are expecting a gas market road map by the end of the year with plans aiming to tackle issues that are obstructing competition in the natural gas market. The country’s lenders will have the final say in the reforms.