Skrekas briefs Tsunis on energy contingency plans
Energy and Environment Minister Kostas Skrekas briefed US Ambassador George Tsunis on Tuesday on the government’s contingency plan in the event of Russia cutting off its supply of natural gas.
In his first official meeting with Tsunis, Skrekas presented the government’s overall plan for phasing out dependency on Russian natural gas.
The minister underlined that the share of Russian gas in Greece’s import total has decreased by 21%, while the share of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has correspondingly increased by 48%, compared to the same period last year.
He minister noted that LNG currently accounts for 44% of the country’s natural gas consumption, while 60% of all LNG imports come from the US, with a potentially increasing trend.
They also discussed the energy security situation in the EU following the reduction of Russian gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is expected to reopen on July 21, unless Moscow decides otherwise.
The minister presented the main aspects of the national emergency plan in the event of an interruption of Russian natural gas flows to Greece, assuring Tsunis that all the necessary measures have been taken to ensure energy sufficiency through a combination of actions
The measures include increasing domestic lignite production, converting the fuel of five power generation units from natural gas to diesel and increasing both the storage capacity and the regasification capacity of Revythoussa station with the addition of a floating storage tank.
