Hydrocarbon, PPC, DEPA draft bills to follow Thessaloniki Fair

Energy minister Costas Hatzidakis’ team and related departments are busy preparing three draft bills for submission to parliament, one by one, by October, following this year’s Thessaloniki International Fair, to take place September 7 to 15.

The first of these three draft bills concerns the approval of hydrocarbon exploration and production licenses in offshore areas west and southwest of Crete, involving a consortium comprising Total, ExxonMobil and Hellenic Petroleum ELPE; an Ionian Sea license involving Repsol and ELPE; and Block 10, west of the Peloponnese, for which ELPE is the sole holder.

The US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, made reference to the licenses yesterday as a means of underlining the investment interest in the sector of US firms, including ExxonMobil.

The second draft bill to be tabled in parliament will detail operational revisions at power utility PPC. Hatzidakis, the energy minister, has noted the state-controlled power utility needs to rely less on the Greek State and compete on equal terms with rivals. The power utility draft bill will alter how PPC stages various auctions concerning supply and services. These auctions are strictly regulated by state terms.

A third draft bill, expected to be delivered to parliament within October, will nullify the previous Syriza government’s privatization plan for gas utility DEPA. It entailed splitting the utility into DEPA Trade and DEPA Infrastructure ahead of the sale of respective majority and minority stakes.

The recently elected New Democracy government appears determined to pursue a more aggressive DEPA privatization policy offering majority stakes in both the utility’s distribution network and trading interests.