DEPA to renegotiate contracts with its suppliers

Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) is seeking to renegotiate its contracts with international suppliers, as conditions in the domestic market that DEPA monopolized until recently have changed drastically and are expected to change further.

At the same time there have also been shifts in a series of factors in the global market, such as the supply of liquefied natural gas by new suppliers and the implementation of new interconnections that allows access to new sources of gas.

Assessing the situation in the Greek and international markets, DEPA chief executive Dimitris Tzortzis has started a round of talks with the company’s three international suppliers, Russia’s Gazprom, Algeria’s Sonatrach and Turkey’s Botas, for the renegotiation of contracts.

In the case of the Turkish company, DEPA has decided not to renew the agreement after 2021, as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will be operating from 2020 and the Greek utility will procure gas directly from Azerbaijan. DEPA has signed a deal with the Azeris for the supply of 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year as soon as TAP starts operating.

Sources say that DEPA will seek the termination of the contract with Botas by common consent before 2021, once TAP starts operating.