Gov’t has a natural gas contingency plan in place
Greece has lined up additional supplies of pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) should existing plans be disrupted by the Ukraine crisis, government spokesperson Yiannis Oikonomou said on Wednesday.
Greece imports 40% of its gas from Russia and also has contracts with Azerbaijan and Algeria.
“We have made provisions for additional supplies of LNG and [pipeline] natural gas,” Oikonomou told state television.
He said Greece would try to get as much gas as it can via a pipeline which runs from Azerbaijan to Italy. Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria could also provide additional LNG to Greece, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
To stave off any disruption to electricity output, some gas-fired plants are ready to switch to diesel, Oikonomou added.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who discussed the issue with his Romanian counterpart in Bucharest, said Europe should reduce its dependence on Russian gas and there was room for a deeper cooperation with Romania, also a natural gas producer.
Mitsotakis said EU member-states needed to deal collectively with the matter of increased electricity prices.
“We need a European response to a problem faced by all EU members-states,” he said, adding he would raise the issue at the next EU leaders’ meeting. [Reuters]
