LNG price, pricing formula and order quantity negotiations between Greek gas grid operator DEPA and Algeria’s Sonatrach, initiated last July by the Greek utility’s push for improved supply terms in 2019, are believed to be approaching finalization and could be completed within the next ten days.

On a visit to Algeria in the summer, DEPA chief executive Dimitris Tzortzis and his team countered Sonatrach pressure for higher prices by noting that Algerian LNG needs to remain competitively priced as international gas market conditions are changing. The DEPA team reminded of the planned 2020 launch of the TAP project as a new pipeline route to bring Azerbaijani gas into the Greek market.

Sonatrach currently supplies DEPA between 0.55 and one billion cubic meters of gas, annually, based on a contract that expires in 2021. Russia’s Gazprom supplies DEPA 2.2 billion cubic meters annually based on a contract expiring in 2026. A DEPA agreement with Turkey’s Botas for an annual gas amount of 0.75 billion cubic meters expires in 2021.

Greece’s energy sufficiency this coming winter will be ensured by an additional third tank at gas grid operator DESFA’s LNG terminal at Revythoussa, an islet just off Athens, DEPA officials have informed. The third tank, a 98 million-euro investment offering a 95,000 cubic meter capacity, has boosted the facility’s overall capacity to 225,000 cubic meters and also created new gas export potential into Balkan markets. Until now, Russia has fully covered the Balkan gas market.