Spain’s Enagas joins Fluxys for bid to acquire 17% DESFA stake

Spain’s Enagas has joined the list of candidates interested in acquiring a 17 percent stake of DEFSA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator, after informing TAIPED, the State Privatization Fund, that it would be interested in acquiring the DESFA stake along with Belgium’s Fluxys, as a joint venture.

Fluxys has already declared an interest in DESFA’s 17 percent, as has the Dutch company Gasunie, and, just days ago, Italy’s Snam.

Azeri company Socar had originally reached an agreement with Greek officials to acquire a 66 percent share of DESFA before the European Commission intervened, presumably over EU security and competition concerns. The EU executive body has demanded that a third investor buys a 17 percent stake in DESFA, to be surrendered by Socar, which would leave the Azeri company with 49 percent.

Enagas owns and operates Spain’s natural gas grid as well as four LNG terminals in the country. The company is also active in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Sweden, Italy, Greece and Albania, as a member of the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) project’s consortium.

Belgian company Fluxys, also a member of the TAP consortium, owns and operates Belgium’s natural gas grid. It also holds interests in the German and Swiss markets, and the North Sea. Fluxys operates an LNG terminal in Zeebrugge, a coastal Belgian town by the North Sea.