Energy matters, especially sharply risen natural prices, will be high on the agenda at a forthcoming 13th Greek-Russian Joint Interministerial Committee scheduled to take place in Moscow on November 29 and 30.
Gas utility DEPA’s current contract with Russia’s Gazprom runs until 2026 but the two sides renegotiate, each year, the details of its pricing formula and a take-or-pay clause incorporated into the agreement.
DEPA’s supply agreement with Gazprom is entirely oil-indexed but an extraordinary revision was made for 2020 and 2021 as oil prices were extremely high, well over LNG price levels. A large proportion of Russian gas received by DEPA was indexed with the TTF gas hub in the Netherlands.
The situation has overturned this year, LNG prices rising well above oil prices. As a result, Gazprom wants to avoid a fully oil-indexed agreement for gas supply to DEPA in 2022 and prefers a hybrid solution that would partially index its gas prices with the TTF.
DEPA and Gazprom have yet to reach an agreement, but the two sides will need to converge by the end of this month, which would enable the Greek gas company to set prices and establish deals with customers in the Greek market.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to travel to Moscow on December 8 for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first direct meeting between the two leaders since Mitsotakis assumed office in July, 2019.