Slovakia

EU energy-crisis concerns over Ukraine corridor ‘manageable’

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European fears of further energy-crisis woes that could result from the nearing end of a five-year pipeline gas transit agreement between Kyiv and Moscow for Russian gas supply to Europe via Ukraine, appear to be manageable, as long as a series of specific measures are implemented, most EU ministers responsible for energy agreed at an Energy Council in Brussels yesterday.

The bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Russia expires at the beginning of 2025. Ukraine has declared it does not intend to renew this agreement.

Further energy-crisis concerns as a consequence of this agreement’s conclusion, expected to reduce the EU’s total gas imports by 5 percent, can be prevented if EU member states speed up their development of roughly 20 LNG facilities planned from Europe’s north to south; renewable energy investments gain further momentum; energy-savings measures are continued; natural gas consumption reductions continue at the current rate; and LNG imports are increased to make up for reduced Russian gas imports, energy ministers of most EU member states agreed at the Brussels meeting.

Last year, approximately 14 bcm of Russian gas was transported through the Ukrainian corridor to countries such as Austria, Hungary and Slovakia.

Numerous EU member states achieved renewable energy production all-time highs last year. In Portugal, renewables covered 61 percent of the country’s energy needs in 2023. RES coverage of Greece’s energy needs reached 57 percent. In Germany, RES units met 52 percent of the country’s energy needs, while in Belgium the figure reached over 30 percent.

US sees American interests in PPC’s southeast Europe plans

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Greek power utility PPC’s aspirations to establish itself as a key energy market player in the Balkans and southeast Europe is being embraced by US investors who, through such a development, see further potential for interests of their own, given the excellent standing of Greek-US bilateral ties.

Protecting the region’s energy sufficiency from the threat posed by Russia remains a top priority for the US, which also sees potential for American interests in PPC’s plans to penetrate markets in the Balkans and beyond with large quantities of renewable energy.

PPC’s chief executive Giorgos Stassis made note of the power utility’s plans for southeast Europe, and also referred to the wider Three Seas Initiative in an announcement made yesterday following a meeting with Geoffrey Pyatt, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources.

The Three Seas Initiative, presently covering 13 countries between the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Adriatic Sea, aims to attract major investments from the EU and the US in the areas of road and rail transport, economy, energy infrastructure for transmission of renewable energy, fiber optic development and everything needed to launch 5G telecommunication networks.

Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are all included in the Three Seas Initiative, while Ukraine and Moldova were granted membership rights last September.

EU support sought for half of Vertical Corridor’s €450m budgeted cost

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The Vertical Corridor, a European gas-pipeline system now planned to involve TSOs of seven countries – Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Ukraine – will require an estimated 450 million euros in investments, energypress sources have noted.

Greek gas grid operator DESFA’s share of this sum will be minimal as a compressor station at Komotini, northeastern Greece, is all it will need to contribute to the project. All other upgrades to Greece’s gas grid, which, once completed, would enable the country to serve as a Vertical Corridor entry point, are already under development.

Officials of the six other countries participating in the project through initiatives taken by local TSOs believe that 50 percent of the project’s budgeted cost would need to be covered by EU funds if Vertical Corridor is to be materialized.

Project participants will push for political commitment from the European Commission by March as the upcoming European elections and any leadership changes would result in delays.

This issue was raised during a two-day ministerial conference staged by the Central and South-Eastern European Gas Connectivity Group (CESEC) in Athens last week, a gathering attended by European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, but no indications of Brussels’ stance were offered.

Vertical Corridor project members are now expected to intensify their call to the European Commission for political support regarding the project’s development.

Following an initiative taken by Slovakia, an MoU was signed at the CESEC meeting in Athens to bring Moldova and Ukraine into the Vertical Corridor project.

Besides TSOs from the seven participating countries, Gastrade, a consortium established by the Copelouzos group for the imminent Alexandroupoli FSRU at Greece’s northeastern port of Alexandroupoli, and ICGB, the consortium behind the Greek-Bulgarian IGB gas pipeline, are also involved in the Vertical Corridor initiative.

Gastrade Alexandroupoli FSRU anchors for testing, launch

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The Alexandroupoli FSRU, a floating natural gas liquefaction and storage unit to be installed at the country’s northeastern port of Alexandroupoli by Gastrade, a consortium established by the Copelouzos group for the project’s development and operation, has just entered the Thracian Sea and anchored after setting sail November 26 from Singapore’s Seatrium shipyard, where the unit was developed over a period of nearly ten months.

The FSRU’s arrival to its permanent anchorage marks the completion of a project of major importance for the national and local economies.

In the coming days, the FSRU will be moored through a twelve-point mooring system before being connected to a high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline, which, once operational, will deliver gas to the Greek gas network and, subsequently, consumers in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia.

The FSRU’s commercial launch is planned for the first quarter of 2024, once testing has been completed. The unit will offer a 5.5-bcm annual liquefaction capacity.

 

Wider interest for Greece-to-Germany hydrogen pipeline

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Greek gas grid operator DESFA and operators in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are interested in developing a hydrogen pipeline running from Greece to Germany via these countries and intend to sign a Memorandum of Agreement early in the new year, energypress sources have informed.

Though the initial idea emerged in Germany and has been encouraged by the German system operator, it is also compatible with broader plans and initiatives undertaken by DESFA, particularly its staging of a market test for an upgrade of Greece’s national gas transmission system that would also serve future hydrogen transmission needs.

The prospect of a vertical hydrogen corridor has been embraced by all Balkan countries, as highlighted by the results of a work group staged in September and those of ensuing meetings.

The Greek gas grid operator is in constant communication with neighboring operators and operators of the wider European region as it is determined to take on an active role in regional developments, especially ones concerning the construction of a hydrogen network serving the continent, sources noted.

Germany, it is worth noting, is set to become the largest – by far – hydrogen import market in Europe in the coming decades, with plans to buy around 70 percent of the hydrogen needed to meet its targets.

PPC chief to take part in Romanian Three Seas meeting

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Greece aims to bolster its geopolitical influence in the Balkans through energy, power utility PPC’s takeover of Italian group ENEL’s Romanian subsidiary ENEL Romania being a key part of this strategy.

In addition to PPC’s takeover of ENEL Romania, Helleniq Energy recently invested in Romania and had been preceded by Mytilineos – both in renewable energy projects.

PPC’s ENEL Romania takeover has prompted an announcement from Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, who named Greece as a new member of The Three Seas, a diplomatic initiative taken by Romania’s political leadership to bring together EU member states and candidates located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas for collaboration in the fields of energy, infrastructure and the digital economy.

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine are the other members of The Three Seas initiative.

Iohannis, Romania’s president, will host a two-day meeting in Bucharest on September 6 and 7 for talks on collaboration in these domains. Ministers and entrepreneurs representing the aforementioned countries, including PPC’s chief executive officer Giorgos Stassis, energypress sources have informed, will take part at the upcoming Bucharest meeting.

Romania has become a geopolitical focal point as a result of the country’s close proximity to war-entangled Ukraine. In addition, Bucharest has established a pivotal role as a result of its support of Ukraine in the war with Russia and Moldova’s EU membership quest. Romania has also facilitated the movement of grain across its borders.

Greece’s greenhouse gas emissions down 8.3% in Q1

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Greece’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023, the fourth-largest drop in the EU, according to data published by Eurostat.

Bulgaria registered the EU’s biggest greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the first quarter, down 15.2 percent, followed by Estonia (14.7%) and Slovenia (9.6%).

The biggest increases in greenhouse gas emissions were registered by Ireland, up 9.1 percent, Latvia (7.5%) and Slovakia (1.9%).

Overall, the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.9 percent in the first quarter, dropping to 941 million tons from 969 million tons.

Households were the biggest polluters as they were responsible for 24 percent of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter, followed by the industrial sector (20%), electricity and natural gas sectors (19%), agriculture (13%) and transportation (10%).

Revised Nabucco pipeline hopes fade, Sofia drops pro-Turkish stance

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A Russian initiative to establish Turkey as a central gas hub, through a revival of a revised version of the old Nabucco project plan, as the transitional government in Bulgaria had attempted to do last spring, appears to have hit an impasse and is unlikely to progress further.

Under the leadership of Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, who assumed office in June, the new government in Sofia has veered away from the pro-Turkish stance of its predecessor. Instead, it has embraced a more pro-Western orientation in the realm of energy policy.

Also, the European Commission has not shown any interest to financially support the project, dubbed Solidarity Ring.

The ambitious plan had received the backing of certain political circles in Bulgaria keen to exploit Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s intention to more-than-double his country’s gas exports to the EU from 11 to 27 bcm by 2027.

Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia signed an MoU in Sofia in early May, in the presence of Aliyev, for increased gas supply to central Europe via the Solidarity Ring route.

However, talks in support of this gas pipeline project have ceased, despite its supposed intention to help end Europe’s energy reliance on Russia, EU sources have informed.

Athens, along with other major international energy players, contributed to this impasse. In a letter forwarded to the European Commission in May, Athens noted the project would degrade Greece’s role on the international energy map, upgrade Turkey’s, and serve Russia’s efforts to regain access into the European market, indirectly, by supplying Russian gas as Azeri gas.

This is possible as the Solidarity Ring would bypass Greece and follow a Turkish-Bulgarian-Romanian-Hungarian-Slovakian route into central Europe, meaning Ankara could use Turk Stream, the Russian pipeline running through Turkey, to feed Solidarity Ring.

 

Greek gas hub potential now realistic, DESFA actions show

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Greece, for the first time, has shown true potential to soon establish itself as a regional gas hub and gateway for southeast Europe, judging by the results of gas grid operator DESFA’s recent auctions offering grid capacity reservations, as well as the operator’s non-binding market test for a prospective expansion of the country’s gas transmission network.

DESFA has prepared an extensive ten-year development plan that is fully aligned with the new market conditions taking shape, as well as with the company’s efforts to achieve energy-transition objectives, the operator’s administration has underlined at a news conference.

Greek gas exports increased by 15.09 percent in the first half of 2023, compared to the equivalent period last year, according to DESFA data presented at the news conference.

Also, DESFA’s non-binding market test for a prospective expansion of the country’s gas transmission network drew the participation of 27 companies, 17 of these from abroad, primarily central and southeast Europe, such as Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Cyprus, North Macedonia, as well as the USA.

Forty percent of the market test’s participants have never before been active in Greece’s natural gas market, DESFA announced.

Participants expressed interest for all the country’s gas grid entry points (Sidirokastro, Nea Mesimvria, Kipoi and Agia Triada), as well as for connections to Greece’s prospective FSRUs (Gastrade, Argo, Dioryga Gas, Elpedison).

Highlighting the Greek natural gas market’s export orientation, exports to Bulgaria totaled approximately 2.4 bcm in 2022, roughly half of Greece’s annual gas consumption last year, 4.9 bcm.