Prometheus Gas, a joint venture involving the Copelouzos Group and Gazprom, has captured a 20 percent share of the Greek gas market, according to energypress sources.

This development highlights the fact that 2017 has been a year of major changes for the sector as significant natural gas amounts imported and distributed in Greece no longer involve DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation.

Prometheus Gas is expected to end the current year with volume-based sales of close to one billion cubic meters, one fifth of total demand in the Greek market.

The bulk of these sales were made to electricity producers and industrial consumers, while some amounts were also bought by suppliers who purchased gas amounts imported by Prometheus Gas through the Sidirokastro entry point in Greece’s north.

Gas pipeline imports, as well as exports, have also been made by other companies this year but Prometheus Gas remains the dominant trader, not including DEPA, the gas utility.

The new year promises further changes as households will be free to choose gas suppliers as of January 1.

A trading system change at Sidirokastro, the Greek-Bulgarian interconnection through which the majority of gas amounts enter the Greek market, has been a key factor behind the market changes.

Until recently, transactions at this point, pivotal for both the Greek and regional markets, were dominated by long-term contracts. The arrival of open auctions, in line with EU law, has enabled independent gas suppliers to buy and sell considerable natural gas amounts at competitive prices.

Implementation of the EU law for an interconnection agreement between the Greek and Turkish grid operators at the country’s Kipi entry point on the Turkish border would provide further impetus for market changes and bolster the country’s diversification of sources.