Greece to hold emergency energy meeting amid threat of shortages
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will on Thursday chair an emergency meeting at Maximos Mansion in response to Russian natural gas supply disruptions and skyrocketing energy prices in Europe.
The meeting will be attended by Minister of State Giorgos Gerapetritis, Energy and Environment Minister Kostas Skrekas, Secretary General for Fiscal Policy in the Finance Ministry Thanos Petralias, the General Secretary for Energy and Natural Resources Alexandra Sdoukou and several top energy market executives.
Russian energy company Gazprom appeared to cast doubt on Wednesday on the prospects of quickly restoring the flow of natural gas to full capacity through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Western Europe. The state-owned gas company cited technical problems involving a piece of equipment that partner Siemens Energy sent to Canada for overhaul and couldn’t be returned because of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
If Russia permanently pulls the plug on supply, Europe, including Greece, will need to prepare for a challenging winter. Around 40% of Greece’s needs are met by Russian Gazprom. If it lacks these quantities, which are primarily used to generate electricity, it may make up for them by building more lignite-fired power plants and shipping more liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Indicatively, of the 30 terawatt-hours of gas imported for domestic consumption in the first half of 2022, 13.3 came from Russia. [Kathimerini, AP]
