Greece to be spared gas cuts

Greece and three more Southern European countries should be spared natural gas cuts this winter, the European Network of Natural Gas System Operators (ENTSOG) said in its annual report on security of supply.

For the upcoming winter, if it is a cold one, it warned that even if Russian gas flows do not stop completely, but are limited to 7%, all European countries will be exposed to load cuts beyond the planned 15% reduction in demand.

Greece, along with France, Portugal and Spain, are the only countries, according to ENTSOG, that could avoid forced gas cuts, even in the scenario of a complete Russian gas cut and a cold winter, due to access to additional LNG markets. At the opposite end are the Baltic countries and Finland.

In the adverse scenario the network examines, regarding a cold winter with high demand, ENTSOG concludes that – with the exception of Greece, France, Spain and Portugal – the rest of the countries will need to proceed with load cuts, some less and others more, the mitigation of which will depend on the cooperation of member-states and the possibilities of additional LNG supply.