The government feels positive about the prospect of LNG imports from the US, Giorgos Tsipras, the Greek Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General for International Economic Relations, noted earlier today at a two-day business and investment forum, “Natural Gas and Growth,” held in Athens. It concludes tomorrow.

The Greek official said the government is supportive of initiatives intended to diversify the country’s energy sources and establish multiple gas routes, but warned the US plan to also supply LNG to Croatia, as a supply base for the wider western Balkans, required careful strategic planning by Greece.

“The country has no reason to adopt geopolitical interests of third parties without any benefit for itself,” Tsipras remarked.

In the years to come, LNG will represent an “element of flexibility,” Tsipras remarked, while adding that Greece could become a key route.

A day earlier, Greek Energy Minister Panos Skourletis confirmed Greece is working on developing a floating LNG terminal in northern Greece, most probably in Alexandroupoli, and that the US is interested in supplying LNG to Greece’s north for wider distribution to the eastern Balkans.

Tsipras supported the idea of Greece becoming a regional hub for natural gas through the development of various pipeline routes in the region.

Tsipras said the Greek government is striving to reinforce the country’s energy security and providing support for  the development of the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) project, the IGB interconnector to link Greece and Bulgaria, Russia’s latest pipeline proposal for southeast Europe, dubbed Turkish Stream, as well as East Med.