New ELPE 5-year plan to include natural gas, electricity plans

ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum), driven by major market opportunities being created in the wider region as a result of international energy sector developments, plans to prepare a new five-year business plan of greater vision and ambition.

The corporation intends to soon hire a consultant for assistance on how best to utilize its interests in the natural gas sector – ELPE holds 35 percent stakes in DESFA, the natural gas grid operator, and DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation – and also for a presentation of market prospects in the electricity and LNG markets as well as all other domains ELPE is currently active in.

Though ELPE updates its five-year business plan every year, it will expect its prospective consultant to offer guidance for a more ambitious strategy in the new plan to focus on electricity and natural gas, while also covering the refining, liquid gas and hydrocarbon industries.

“In 2050, two-thirds of Shell’s revenues will be derived from non-liquid fuels [electricity, natural gas and hydrogen]. We want such prospects to be included in our plan,” an ELPE official pointed out.

In the natural gas sector, ELPE wants to utilize southeast Europe’s growth prospects promised by the development of new pipelines, interconnections and LNG storage facilities.

As for the electricity sector, ELPE is seeking to adjust in anticipation of major changes, both domestically, as a result of the introduction of the new European market framework known as the Target Model – it includes new types of agreements between produces and suppliers – and abroad.

Through its stake in Elpedison, ELPE is active in the retail electricity market, a domain seeing the emergence of new products combining electricity, telecommunications as well as energy efficiency services for households, offices and shops. Beyond Greece, the interconnection developments with neighbouring countries are changing offering opportunities for new forms of collaboration.

ELPE is expected to post an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) figure of over 800 million euros for 2016 as well as an all-time company record in production.

ELPE’s high export ratio, which has risen to 60 percent of total production, as well as the corporation’s 50-50 split of incoming crude supply from traders and producer, which has increased profit margins, are key factors behind the favorable results expected.