Kavala UGS binding offers in July, pricing rules unchanged

RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has left unchanged, following consultation, a pricing framework for a prospective underground natural gas storage facility (UGS) at the almost depleted natural gas field of “South Kavala” in the Aegean Sea’s north, a step enabling the project’s binding-bids stage to go ahead, energypress sources have informed.

According to the tender’s latest schedule, included in a European Commission report published yesterday, binding bids will be submitted towards the end of July, while, in the lead-up, the two bidding teams, a consortium comprising gas grid operator DESFA and GEK TERNA, and rival bidder Energean, will be updated on the license’s details.

The tender is expected to be completed towards the end of October.

According to the project’s pricing framework, 50 percent of the UGS facility’s development cost, budgeted at 314 million euros, will be guaranteed through regulated earnings.

The project’s operator will need to retrieve the remainder either from the Greek State, on the grounds of strategic reserve maintenance, or from other users of the facility.