Greece has sufficient gas supplies for the winter

Greece is in a better position for this coming winter than it was last year, as a national threat assessment report for the coming winter does not indicate a significant lack of natural gas supplies in the country, Deputy Environment and Energy Minister Alexandra Sdoukou said in Warsaw on Thursday.

At the Energy Security Conference, Sdoukou said that the assessment was based on a threat evaluation by the Regulatory Authority for Industrial Waste, Energy and Water, which in turn was based on simulation projections.

In addition, the new lignite unit at Ptolemaida V (660 MW) is in operation this year, while the commercial operation of the new floating LNG station in Alexandroupoli will very soon be able to guarantee the natural gas reserves both for the Greek market and for the Balkan market.

The conference focused on the EU’s preparation for the coming winter in terms of energy supply and demand, infrastructure resilience, emergency mechanisms and strategies to manage threats.

Sdoukou said that demand for natural gas between August 2022 and March 2023 dropped by 31% compared to the same period in 2022, and by 18.2% compared to the average of the last five years.

Greece also reduced its dependence on Russian natural gas from 40% to 20%, she added.