Greece reduced natural gas consumption by 40% in September, minister says

The domestic consumption of natural gas in Greece in September shows a 40 pct decrease compared to the same period last year, while there has also been an increase of energy exports to Italy and the Balkans, Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Thursday.

Speaking in Bucharest, at the Ministerial Council of the International Natural Gas Conference, Skrekas said natural gas exports increased to almost 2 billion cubic metres this year from 0.7 billion cubic metres last year. Greece has exported more than 18 TWh of natural gas to Bulgaria and 2 TWh to Italy.

At the same time, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) arriving at Revythoussa have hit a record, as vessels at the terminal have almost doubled. Since June, LNG regasification capacity has increased by 12 pct, he said.

Skrekas also reiterated that the Greek-Bulgarian pipeline will launch its commercial operation on October 1.

[AMNA]