Lukoil

Helleniq Energy: Clarity needed on DEPA Commercial future

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The future of gas company DEPA Commercial, whose privatization of the state’s 65 percent stake was postponed about a month ago, needs to be clarified in the immediate future, within the next three to six months, Andreas Siamisiis, chief executive of the Helleniq Energy group, holding a 35 percent stake in the gas company, has noted.

DEPA Commercial is currently developing business interests that directly compete against those of Helleniq Energy. These interests include participation in new gas-fueled power stations, both in Greece and abroad.

Subsequently, the current status, under which Helleniq Energy holds a 35 percent in DEPA Commercial, cannot be maintained. Helleniq Energy will need to sell its stake in the gas company, possibly to the Greek State or a third party.

Greek privatization fund TAIPED postponed its sale of DEPA Commercial until the company’s business plan, which includes an expansion strategy, begins reaping rewards, effectively meaning that no further steps concerning the company’s sale should be expected before late 2024 or early 2025.

As for Helleniq Energy, the company intends, in 2024, to intensify its efforts in the Bulgarian RES market, especially photovoltaics.

Helleniq Energy currently holds a 360-MW portfolio of RES projects in operation, along with projects at advanced stages of development, which, once launched, promise to boost the group’s total RES capacity to 1 GW over the next 18 months.

Besides its interests in renewables, Helleniq Energy is monitoring the sale process of Russian multinational energy corporation Lukoil’s refinery in Bulgaria. It is the only refinery in the neighboring country.

Although a Helleniq Energy move to acquire this refinery is hard to imagine, as it would run contrary to the group’s transformation plan, it cannot be ruled out as any new buyer might be interested in exporting fuel to Greece. Helleniq Energy may choose to buy the Lukoil refinery to block further competition in the Greek market.

Whatever the outcome, Helleniq Energy would not be prepared to spend big on such an acquisition.

 

 

Helleniq Energy ‘monitoring’ Lukoil refinery sale in Bulgaria

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Helleniq Energy, formerly Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE), is keeping a close watch on the sale process of Russian multinational energy corporation Lukoil’s refinery in Bulgaria, CEO Andreas Siamisiis has told analysts during a presentation of the Greek energy group’s 3Q and nine-month results.

Bulgarian finance minister Asen Vasilev recently told Financial Times that Lukoil is in the process of selling the only refinery in the neighboring country.

According to Siamisiis, political considerations, not just business decisions, are behind Lukoil’s decision to sell this asset in Bulgaria. Rumors of the refinery’s sale had circulated over the past year and a half, the Helleniq Energy chief executive added.

Though Helleniq Energy’s Vision 2025 strategy does not include major investments in refineries, the energy group is monitoring the sale of the Lukoil refinery in Bulgaria given its location in a neighboring region, Siamisiis pointed out.

As for Helleniq Energy’s diversification into renewables, the group has already built up 356 MW in facilities now operating, company officials informed. A further 700 MW in RES facilities are at various stages of development, which puts the group on target for 1,000 MW by 2025 and 2,000 MW by 2030, the officials added.

 

ELPE seeking greater North Macedonia market share

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Hellenic Petroleum ELPE, aiming to capture a bigger share of the North Macedonian market, is currently negotiating for extrajudicial solutions that would enable the reopening of a company oil pipeline linking Thessaloniki with Skopje.

In an effort to help resolve this issue, ELPE has proposed a series of RES investments in the neighboring country as well as a conversion of its Okta refinery into a petroleum products hub facilitating distribution to the western Balkans.

December will be a crucial month for the negotiations between ELPE and North Macedonia as a verdict is scheduled to be delivered on an ELPE compensation request for 32 million dollars for a breach, by the neighboring country, of contractual obligations concerning minimum supply amounts between 2008 and 2011.

The North Macedonian oil market is dominated by two Russian companies, Gazprom and Lukoil, both gaining further ground. Gazprom supplies fuel products to North Macedonia via Serbia and Lukoil does so from Bulgaria.

US officials, seeking to inhibit the dominance of Russian energy firms in North Macedonia, have intervened to help resolve the country’s differences with ELPE.

Just days ago, a meeting on ELPE’s effort to reopen the oil pipeline was held in Thessaloniki during an official visit to the city by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. US government officials, Greece’s energy minister Costis Hatzidakis and North Macedonian government deputies participated.

For quite some time now, Washington has made clear its stance aiming to limit Europe’s energy dependence on Russian companies and, as a result, is promoting the ELPE oil pipeline as an alternative supply route into North Macedonia.