transgas

DESFA tender bidders to be shortlisted next week

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First-round bidders taking part in a renewed international tender offering 66 percent of DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator, are expected to be shortlisted next week, once TAIPED, the state privatization fund, has received specialized advice from the procedure’s consultants.

Qualifiers will advance to the competition’s next round. A total of six teams submitted first-round bids early this month, including one comprised of Italy’s Snam, Spain’s Enagas, Belgium’s Fluxys and Dutch operator Gasunie, regarded as the favorite.

Snam, Enagas and Fluxys all hold stakes in the TAP consortium developing the TAP gas pipeline, to run across northern Greece, through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy.

The emergence of this TAP-related entry for the DESFA sale certainly adds clout and bidding potential to the sale procedure.

France’s GRTgaz and Romania’s Transgas also joined forces as one of the other bidding teams. This formation should not be underestimated as GRTgaz stands one of the EU’s biggest energy sector firms operating the most extensive network of gas pipelines.

Questions regarding eligibility have emerged for members of three of the six bidding teams – Qatar’s Powerglobe, US firm Intergrated Utility Services, and Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure.

A subsidiary of the Australian company maintains interests in an Italian network company. This could help Macquarie Infrastructure overcome EU-related restrictions.

The tender, according to its terms, is open to European operators as well as non-EU firms taking part as members of consortiums headed by European operators.

 

 

Major players meet DESFA sale’s first-round deadline

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Local energy market authorities have declared as a success the turnout of virtually all the major European operators for a renewed international tender offering 66 percent of DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator.

Though still at a preliminary stage, the sale procedure, whose deadline for first-round non-binding offers expired yesterday, has drawn two formidable consortiums that appear prepared to make serious bids for the DESFA majority stake on offer.

One of these fancied teams is made up of Italy’s Snam, Spain’s Enagas, Belgium’s Fluxys and Dutch operator Gasunie and the other Romania’s Transgas and France’s GRTgaz.

The first of these two bidding teams appears to be the firm favorite as three of its members also hold stakes in the TAP consortium developing the TAP gas pipeline, to run across northern Greece, through Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy. The emergence of the TAP-related entry for the DESFA sale certainly adds clout and bidding potential to the sale procedure.

The second major bidding team should not be underestimated. France’s GRTgaz stands one of the EU’s biggest energy sector firms operating the most extensive network of gas pipelines.

Regasificadora del Noroeste S.A, a second Spanish firm that met yesterday’s deadline, can be regarded as an outsider. It operates a pipeline network in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia.

Questions linger over the prospects of other tender participants such as Qatar’s Powerglobe, US firm Intergrated Utility Services and Australian entry Macquarie Infrastructure, a non-EU group taking part as one of its subsidiaries is linked to an Italian network operator.

TAIPED to launch new DESFA tender, details not released

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The energy ministry is keeping under wraps the details of its plan concerning the relaunch of an international tender to offer a stake of DESFA, the natural gas grid operator, including whether the 66 percent stake offered though the previous sale attempt will be reduced.

TAIPED, the state privatization fund, is waiting for final decisions to be made at the energy ministry before it proceeds with the tender’s declaration. Meanwhile, a letter of guarantee worth 40 million euros that had been provided by the Azerbaijani energy firm Socar, the winning bidder of the first and ultimately unsuccessful DESFA tender, has yet to be returned.

At this stage, it appears certain that a new tender will be launched immediately following the festive season.

Legal experts have informed that no obtacles should prevent the first tender from being nullified as it was completed in 2013, when Socar was declared the winning bidder. A final agreement, however, was never reached and the process recently collapsed after Socar decided not to further extend its letter of guarantee.

After winning the first tender, Socar was eventually joined by Italy’s Snam as a partner in the deal in response to European Commission intervention ordering the Azerbaijani firm to surrender at least 17 percent of the 66 percent stake of DESFA it had agreed to acquire. The sale effort was further complicated by Greek energy ministry measures imposed last summer that severely restricted the operator’s revenue potential.

According to sources, Socar and TAIPED have already agreed to terminate the first tender signed three years ago without any penalties. As the next step, the Greek privatization fund will need to return the letter of guarantee to Socar after having cleared the failed sale attempt of any prospective legal complications.

The equity stake of DESFA to be offered by ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum), which holds a 35 percent stake of the gas grid operator, is another isssue that needs to be resolved before the follow-up sale attempt proceeds.

Given the rapid developments in Greece’s energy market, a number of ELPE officials believe that the petroleum company needs to maintain its interests in the country’s gas infrastructure, including the LNG terminal on the islet Revythoussa, just off Athens. This perception could restrict the DESFA stake ELPE would be willing to offer for the tender’s relaunch. Certain ELPE officials admit they would be more prepared to sell ELPE’s stake in DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation, rather than DESFA.

Greek government officials are now expected to inform parties interested in the upcoming new DESFA tender of the new sale procedure. These include Belgium’s Fluxys and Romania’s Transgas.

If all goes according to plan, the new DESFA tender is not expected to be completed before September, 2017.

Government preparing to launch new DESFA tender

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The Greek government and TAIPED, the state privatization fund, are preparing to launch a new international tender for the sale of a stake in DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator, following the recent collapse of a long-running sale procedure through which the Azerbaijani energy firm Socar, joined later on by Italy’s Snam, were the candidate buyers for a 66 percent stake.

At this stage, it remains unclear how big a stake of DESFA will be offered through the new sale attempt.

Thoughts of keeping the original tender valid once negotiations broke down were expressed by the country’s international creditors, in a bid to save time, but this would not be legally feasible.

Officials at TAIPED informed energypress that, at best, the new tender will not be completed before the third quarter of 2017.

Though the original tender theoretically remains alive, it is now believed to be just a matter of days before TAIPED nullifies the procedure.

Over the past few days, energy minister Giorgos Stathakis, since his return from an official visit to New York City, has held talks with officials at TAIPED and ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum), which holds a 35 percent stake of the operator’s parent company DEPA, the Public Gas Corporation, also on the privatizations agenda.

Given the country’s rapid gas sector developments amid the sector’s ongoing market liberalization, a number of ELPE officials believe it is crucial for the oil company to maintain its presence in this domain’s infrastructure.

Greek government officials are now expected to inform parties that have expressed an interest in DESFA of the upcoming new tender. These include Belgium’s Fluxys and Romania’s Transgas.