Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas is scheduled to meet Russian gas company Gazprom’s chief executive Alexey Miller in Saint Petersburg today for crucial talks over the pricing formula to apply for Russian gas supply to Greece in 2022.

Russia currently supplies 45 percent of natural gas consumed in Greece as well as nearly 10 percent of the country’s crude oil, making today’s talks pivotal for the competitiveness of Greek industry and living standards of households amid the energy crisis.

Gazprom, aiming to capitalize on the sharp rise in natural gas prices, wants the pricing formula to be fully indexed with the Dutch TTF gas hub index, which the Greek side says it cannot accept, according to comments offered by a senior official to energypress.

Greek gas utility DEPA’s agreement with Gazprom is currently entirely oil-indexed. The two sides had agreed to an extraordinary revision for 2020 and 2021 indexing prices with the TTF gas index as oil prices were considerably higher. The opposite is now the case, with LNG prices well above oil prices in recent months. Gazprom officials now prefer prices to not be fully indexed to oil.

DEPA’s pending agreement with Russia’s Gazprom Export, its main supplier, expires in 2026 but is subject to annual talks concerning pricing formula and take-or-play clause revisions.