BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 15. Exporting LNG from Greece in the short-term will remain limited to the relatively small Kulata-Sidirokastro point, and beyond this it will be reliant on capacity in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) being available, Trend reports with reference to Oxford Institute of Energy Studies (OIES).
OIES says in its latest report that capacity constraints are rife in south-eastern Europe, as long-term bookings by Gazprom block access to supply routes, making it hard for LNG from Greece and Turkey to feed the rest of the region.
“The commissioning of the 3bcm/yr Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) could help to alleviate some of these issues, but the project has been constantly delayed; it was most recently expected to be operational by the end of July 2022, but while construction and licensing are complete, final commissioning has been delayed again until October owing to a transition in government and technical issues. However, until further upgrades to the Greek system have been carried out, the IGB will only receive gas from the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), as physical constraints prohibit Greek system operator Desfa from offering capacity in either direction between the IGB and the Greek grid. Therefore, exporting LNG from Greece in the short-term will remain limited to the relatively small Kulata-Sidirokastro point, and beyond this it will be reliant on capacity in TAP being available. There is also no interconnection agreement between the TSOs of Bulgaria and Turkey, making it currently difficult to export regasified Turkish LNG to Bulgaria and beyond,” the report says.
The supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor began on December 31, 2020. Azerbaijan exported its natural gas to the European market through pipelines for the first time in history.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which is the European part of the Southern Gas Corridor, annually supplies eight billion cubic meters of gas to Italy and one billion cubic meters of gas to Greece and Bulgaria each.